Long-awaited YMCA opening next month in Toronto's east end

The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA at 907 Kingston Rd., just west of Victoria Park Avenue, is opening to the public on Monday, August 15.

After almost seven years of construction, a new YMCA in Toronto’s Upper Beach area is finally opening its doors.

The official opening day for The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA at 907 Kingston Rd., just west of Victoria Park Avenue, is Monday, August 15.

Starting this week, people can sign up online to take a tour of the new 63,990-square-foot “centre of community,” which will include a full-sized gymnasium and two pools as well as a large fitness studio and exercise areas. The fully accessible facility will also offer programs for youth, and multi-purpose spaces for local groups and programming outside of the YMCA. So far, more than 1,100 tours have been booked.

“The neighbourhood has been waiting (for us). We really appreciate everyone’s patience,” Mehdi Zobeiry, general manager of The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA, told CP24 Tuesday.

Previously known as Kingston Road YMCA, the facility was originally slated to open in 2020, however the COVID-19 pandemic put a “big dent in our plans,” Zobeiry said.

He said several factors including health and safety regulations, pandemic lockdowns and the need to shift resources, not to mention a whole array of construction industry challenges, delayed the centre’s opening by two-and-a-half years.

“But, the good story is we’re opening our doors on August 15,” Zobeiry said, adding while most programs and services will be available on opening day, more offerings will be added in September based on the “needs of the community.”

The YMCA has had a presence in Toronto’s Upper Beach area since the 1950s when the much-smaller East City YMCA location opened at the same spot. That space closed in 2015 and was subsequently torn down.

The new Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA is located on two floors of the new Beech House condominium at Kingston Road and Balsam Avenue. This project is the result of a partnership between the YMCA of Greater Toronto and developer Bob Mitchell of Mitchell and Associates.