EMPORIA INDEPENDENT-MESSENGER- April 3, 2023
Just outside the Emporia/Greensville YMCA on Weaver Avenue in Emporia is a large patch of grass which will, in less than two years time, become Virginia’s newest aquatic center.
This Friday afternoon, the Greensville Memorial Foundation held a groundbreaking ceremony which marked the unofficial start of construction of the Greensville Memorial Foundation Aquatic Center — a planned 12,000 square foot aquatic facility which is scheduled to open its doors in May 2024.
According to GMF executive director Jill Slate, the actual construction will begin in approximately two months and will be led by Hourigan Construction.
“Our board members are here today to make sure that we are going in the right direction to improve the health of the community,” said Slate.
The Greensville Memorial Foundation was established in 1999 after the sale of the non-profit Greensville Memorial Hospital. Managing the funds from that sale, the GMF has put its fingerprints all over Emporia, Greensville County, and the surrounding area by granting funds to local 501(c)3 organizations and government agencies.
In fact, during Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony, one needed not look very far to find the impact that the GMF has left in the city of Emporia. Funding from the Greensville Memorial Foundation led directly to the construction of the Family YMCA of Emporia/Greensville, which opened its doors in 2001.
In all, by the time the aquatic center is finished, the Greensville Memorial Foundation will have invested over $14.9 million in local public projects.
While it features many activities for people of all age groups — including a basketball court, a rock climbing wall, an outdoor playground, and multiple fitness studios — the Emporia/Greensville YMCA does not feature a swimming pool. The aquatic center, while not connected to the YMCA, will more than make up for this.
“It will have four swimming lanes for lap swimmers,” said Slate. “There will be aquatics classes and we hope to pair up with the schools to give swimming lessons to everyone and hopefully we can have everyone swimming by second grade.”
The new complex is also planned to include a “zero entry” area to allow safe access for young children and handicap accessibility, as well as separate areas for basketball, volleyball, and a toddler play area. The pool will be large enough to hold over 99,000 gallons of water and will have a surface area of 4,080 square feet.”