'It's sentimental': YMCA childcare centre officially moves out of downtown centre

The YMCA early childcare centre has moved out of its downtown location at 2400 13th Ave. and into a brand-new building at the corner of Albert Street and 25th Avenue.

Originally built in the 1950’s, the ‘Y’ started childcare downtown in the 1980’s.

“When you think of the generations of those kids that became parents that bring their kids, there’s a lot of history,” said Regina YMCA CEO Steve Compton. “As we walked through there today, the rooms began to empty and as we move towards the bright and new, it’s sentimental for sure.”

Among the memories of decades and generations of children running through the halls, is a sense of optimism and excitement for the future.

“It’s a nice place to be after some of the challenges of the last few years,” said Compton. “This is the 2.0 version. We’re coming back and offering more to the community.”

On Friday, movers loaded boxes onto a truck downtown then drove to 3801 Albert St. to unload books, art supplies and toys inside.

The YMCA was given the space as part of Sherwood Co-op’s $4 million renovation of their South Albert location.

“We had a vacant property, they had an older facility downtown,” said CEO Troy Verboom. “We looked at it from a pure partnership and community perspective. It’s about the kids and the community.”

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All 90 children currently enrolled downtown will move to the new location. However, the larger space will allow the ‘Y’ to open up 80 additional spaces for parents searching for childcare.

“There’s a long waiting list for licensed spaces,” Compton said. “To be able to offer more, people were really happy to receive that phone call saying, ‘you’re in.’”

Children will return to daycare at the new space starting Thursday Jan. 19.

The old building on 13th Avenue will transition to become a multi-purpose health centre and will open in mid-2023.