While aerobics, swimming and zumba classes are among the many fitness options offered at the Niles-Buchanan YMCA, members will soon be able to enjoy even more healthy lifestyle opportunities.

The facility has planned a three-year expansion project that will be funded by a capital campaign titled “Building the Community Foundation.”

Last week, the campaign hit over the $1 million mark according to Jill Haboush, the YMCA’s director of fund development and marketing. The total project will cost more than $3 million.

The campaign planning began early last year, and fundraising began around April.

Based on community need, Haboush said the nonprofit’s leaders felt it was the right time to grow the facility. In December 2016,  the Niles-Buchanan YMCA celebrated 10 years at their location at 905 N. Front St.

The agency has been a fixture in Niles since 1944.

“It has always been the vision of the Y to expand the facility,” Haboush said. “We are at a place now where there is a need and the administration is ready to do it.”

At least one area where need was identified was in the gym area. During the winter months, Haboush said the gym can become particularly crowded.

The three-phase project will include building a new gym, new fitness classrooms and a youth and teen center on the east side of the building, to name a few.

The Niles-Buchanan YMCA also helps residents get healthy with a partnership with Lakeland Health. Lakeland patients can receive physical therapy in the Y’s therapy pool, in addition to many other partnership tools.

In 2016, more than 8,300 members used the facility’s services. As YMCA leaders looked to the future, Haboush said facility leaders wanted to offer more youth geared programs.

“[We wanted] to invest in youth and help them grow,” Haboush said. “They are the future of our community.”

The expansion will include a youth center for children who are 6 to 12 years old. The youth center will offer an open gym, special events, league play and additional sport fitness/personal training space.

The teen center will be available to those between the ages of 13 and 18. The new facility will include a safe environment, homework help, healthy snack, nutrition education and a technology center, to name a few.

Haboush said that the YMCA has always had the goal to provide a safe educational space for youth to go after school.

Programs like the Y-Club draw more than a 100 students a year and cost a nominal fee to elementary school users. The club is free to Oak Manor students. Students get homework help, work on fitness and get a healthy snack.

“There are not a lot of places for kids to be after school and that is really what we are focusing on as an organization, providing a safe environment,” Haboush said.

Many of the youth programs capitalize on community partnerships. The expansion is expected to draw even more partners to aid the youth programs.

“It is a huge impact that the Y has and so many community members come together to focus on the youth,” Haboush said.

Haboush said the facility could possibly break ground on the first phase of the campaign as early as 2018.

Those interested in contributing to the campaign can contact the Niles-Buchanan YMCA at (269) 683-1552.