The YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley in August 2006 as it prepared to close. Its application to build a new facility on the Highland Park site was pulled in the face of stiff resident opposition. The facility plans on reestablishing itself in East Brunswick. Photo by Debra Rubin
March 04, 2008
A year and a half after closing the doors of its Highland Park facility, the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley announced plans to reestablish itself in East Brunswick with a new name and expanded athletic services and Jewish cultural and educational programming.
The Y plans to construct a 60,000-square- foot facility on 11 acres it has owned for six years at 75 Dutch Road, which is now used for its summer day camp and swim club.
The Y left its aging home of more than five decades in Highland Park in August 2006, as it faced mounting resident opposition to plans to redevelop the site.
The Y will fund the new construction in East Brunswick, the cost of which has not yet been determined, through fund-raising initiatives and financing. The Highland Park site has been sold to Atlantic Realty, which closed on the property Feb. 8.
The planned facility will be “about one-third larger than we had in Highland Park,” said Y executive director Arje Shaw. “The land it is situated on is about three times the size. We are looking to present our application within six months, and the actual construction is anticipated to be 18 months.”
Shaw said the Y will drop the “YM-YWHA” from its name, in keeping with what he described as its new role as a “focal point” for the area’s Jewish community,
“We don’t know what the name will be yet, but this will be a regional Jewish community center, and ‘JCC’ will be a part of that name,” said Shaw.
The Y, which began in New Brunswick in 1911 and moved to Highland Park in 1955, had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the building — which included the historic 150-year-old Meyer Rice Mansion — could not be salvaged.
Plans to fund the construction of a new Highland Park facility through the sale of land to a condominium developer fell through after a year of hearings, by which time the facility’s membership had dwindled from more than 1,000 to 100.
In addition to the day camp and swim club, the Y has continued to operate senior programs at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick and childcare programs at the Parker House assisted-living facility in Piscataway.
Jeffrey Urbach, president of the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley, signs papers Feb. 8 as Atlantic Realty took possession of the land at Raritan and Adelaide avenues, where the Y had been located since 1955.
Photo courtesy the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley
“We’re at the very beginning of our plans, but we already have a great summer day camp with 250 kids and another 100 families at the swim club, so we already have a great presence in the community,” said Shaw.
Shaw said the new facility will offer a range of programs and services, including a dance studio and fitness center that will offer exercise classes and yoga instruction.
“We’re going to maintain our infant, toddler, and nursery school programs as well as our senior and teen programs,” he said. “We’re really going to expand on what we had in Highland Park as far as enrichment programs. We will offer cultural arts, holiday celebrations. A special focus will be made toward young people, particularly teens and preteens.”
The new JCC will also have a walking track, basketball courts, and both a lap pool and a family pool with slides and such extras as a “lazy river.”
The site already has six tennis courts for members’ use and will include ball fields. Certain sections will be designated botanical or green areas for nature study and gardening activities. The 4.5-acre Highland Park site had no outdoor facilities.
An East Brunswick Steering Committee has been formed and will make presentations to the Jewish community and neighbors of the property.
Amanda Shechter, a Y vice president and chair of the steering committee, said “very productive meetings” have been held with the municipal planning and engineering departments and Mayor William Neary.
A facility such as a JCC is a permitted use for the site, Shechter said. “It doesn’t appear” the new facility would need any variances from the township zoning board, she added, although it will need planning board approval.
She said EHL Consulting Group of Willow Grove, Pa., is conducting a community fund-raising survey, which will be completed within three months, to assess support for the new community center.
“While we don’t have specific figures, anecdotally everyone I speak to in East Brunswick and surrounding communities who hears about the project is very excited,” said Shechter, a member of the Young Israel of East Brunswick. “Everyone really thinks this is the kind of facility that East Brunswick needs. It will be a place for Jews of every denomination as well as unaffiliated Jews to be a part of the greater Jewish community.”
Children at the summer day camp of the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley have fun at the pool. The Y plans to build a new facility on the 75 Dutch Road site where it currently runs the camp and swim club.
Photo courtesy the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley
Shaw said the decision to leave Highland Park was made with great sadness. The Y and its staff had become attached to the community, where a majority of its members and leadership had lived.
“I was there 23 years, and I know so many people worked hard over the years to keep us alive,” said Shaw. “We did everything we could to stay in the community. We left a tremendous legacy there and we hope to continue that legacy in East Brunswick.”
Shaw remains optimistic that former members will return.
“It will be an all-encompassing cultural center dedicated to the same mission we always had since the Y was founded, which is to strengthen the Jewish community,” said Shaw. “We couldn’t continue in Highland Park, but we look forward to a prosperous future in East Brunswick, which is only 20 minutes away from the Highland Park site.”
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