Wednesday, November 4, 2026
The fitness center at the Healthy Living Center will feature all new equipment.
The Book Club Mezzanine at the new YMCA Healthy Living Center.
These piles of dirt will turn into the new YMCA Healthy Living Center. The additional17,000 square feet will offer everything from a café and catering kitchen to a large fitness center and library nook.
It was over nine months ago, on January 23,2025, when the Marco YMCA turned over the first shovels full of dirt to symbolically break ground on their new Healthy Living Center at the corner of Sand Hill Street and San Marco Road. Since then, much of the background work to bring a dream into the sunshine for the residents of our island has finally resulted in the progress you can see when you pass by the construction site, which is now well underway to bring that dream into reality.
Ashley Lupo, a longtime board member of the Marco YMCA who now serves on the newly constituted Board of Directors of the YMCA of Collier County, explained that this project would complete an “intergenerational circle of services “at the Marco YMCA campus. “The Y is dedicated to serving its entire community and being responsive to its needs, including those of underserved segments such as seniors,” said Lupo.
Today all of the infrastructure is being laid into place for that building to rise up from the previously empty lot and provide an additional 17,000 sq. ft. of sorely needed space within the new two-story structure, for what today is known as the southern campus of the newly constituted YMCA of Collier County. A covered breezeway will connect the existing structure to the new building.
The new facility will feature details including, but not limited to:
Multi-purpose Adult Social and Wellness Center.
New and larger fitness center with all new equipment.
A cafe offering healthy options for snacks, light meals, and beverages.
A catering kitchen and seating for 200.
A community meeting room.
A quiet reflection room.
Group exercise room.
A library nook.
Indoor and outdoor social spaces.
Expanded parking, which will include a front door drop-off area.
The Marco YMCA was founded in 1977 when the land was donated by the Deltona Corporation. Initially, it was a branch of the Collier YMCA before becoming an independent entity. In 2022, the Naples YMCA and the Marco YMCA merged their two operations and was renamed the YMCA of Collier County as they sought a streamlined and more efficient presentation of programs and services under their President and CEO, Cindy Love Abounader, who had previously served the Greater Marco YMCA as its CEO.
The more efficient utilization of resources will help to better serve the greater Collier County Community and mirrors numerous consolidations of smaller YMCA facilities across the nation while increasing the number of citizens served. The building is expected to be completed mid-2026.
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