THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9501310085
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
After almost a quarter-century of renting rooms to vacationers, seamen and other Norfolk visitors needing short-term housing, the Downtown Norfolk YMCA Hotel has closed its doors.
The operation, which first opened in 1971, officially closed Jan. 15 after 16 residents who had lived in the facility for about a year were relocated.
``We desperately needed the space,'' explained Al Dustin, the Y's executive director. ``For the last three years we have been bursting at the seams. It's really cost-prohibitive to build up ... and we have no space to build out. The only alternative was to reuse the space we had.
``The board felt we could serve the community better by using this space for family programming rather than for short-term housing.''
In recent years the hotel had not been attracting the numbers of guests it had in the past, Dustin said. During 1994, on average the hotel's 80 rooms were only 60 percent occupied at any time, he noted.
The 16 residents living at the facility when it closed were given money to relocate to other housing, Dustin added.
``We went out to other agencies and made arrangements for places for them to move,'' he said. ``Luckily, we were able to find housing for all our people.''
With the closure, the hotel's 8,800 square feet of space, located on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the Bute Street landmark, will be remodeled and used for office space, an indoor running track, child care and teen activity areas, and storage and laundry facilities.
The Y's cardiovascular equipment, now located on the ground level, will be moved into space on the second floor, where the offices currently are situated.
``We'll be doing all this in phases,'' Dustin explained. ``In mid-March, the offices should be ready ... then everything else will continue after that is completed.''
About 2,600 families and individuals are members of the Downtown Y. In addition, hundreds more children, teens and their parents come to the center each week for after-school and child care, tutoring programs, dances, Scouting groups and other community activities.
Last year, the Y completed a $1.1 million capital improvement project that included the construction of a new six-lane swimming pool, gymnasium, expanded exercise facility and child development center. A year before that, the facility spent nearly $200,000 to give its aging exterior a face lift and renovate and enlarge exercise facilities.
The Y was built in 1951. by CNB