Saturday, December 11, 2004
2004: YMCA at Tech still wants to preserve former middle school
The director of the YMCA at Virginia Tech gave community groups hope Thursday night that the dream of preserving the old Blacksburg Middle School for civic uses may still have a chance, despite commercial and retail competition.
Gail Billingsley discussed her vision of buying the building as a home for her organization, including its Open University education programs, the YMCA Thrift Store and its annual crafts fair, at a meeting sponsored by the Blacksburg Townscape Committee.
She also encouraged other civic groups to think differently about their value to the community. Representatives from the Valley Interfaith Child Care Center, Community Housing Partners, the Blacksburg Regional Art Association and other groups attended the meeting.
Billingsley suggested the groups put a dollar value on their services to prove their worth to the county.
Other proposals for the property include a large-scale retail mall and a luxury residential community, both of which could bring in more tax revenue than a nonprofit.
Representatives from the other nonprofits present at the meeting were excited about joining with the YMCA in its proposal, but Billingsley declined to join a group effort.
"At this stage I would really like to just keep exploring it from our perspective, keeping in mind the other groups we could help. Politically, I just do not want to tie the YMCA in with a special interest group with a specific agenda," she said in an interview Friday.
Billingsley said she sees the 20-acre campus as two parcels and wouldn't mind if a developer bought the sports fields for another project.
She also called the 1950s era building "the albatross of the property" and suggested that the YMCA could take the building off the hands of a developer in exchange for help refurbishing it. She estimates the cost of bringing it up to code at $3 million to $6 million.
