CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The YMCA of South Hampton Roads is selling its Greenbrier North location to fund a major renovation and childcare expansion at the Greenbrier Family YMCA in Chesapeake. The Greenbrier North location will close on May 30. The YMCA will use the money from the sale to centralize resources and renovate the Greenbrier Family location.
"It's a reallocation of resources," Anthony Walters, president and CEO of YMCA South Hampton Roads, said. "These Y's were very close to one another and we can now really kind of take those resources, allocate it and centralize it and build something even better for our community."
Staff say construction is set to begin in early 2027 and should be completed by the end of that year. Daily operations will not be affected by the work, and officials confirmed there will be no staff layoffs. Employees will be relocated to the Greenbrier Family branch or other YMCA locations in the region.
"We expect them to all remain our teammates," Walters said. "We have plenty of work and plenty of hours for all of our team members."
The major investment aims to support the nearly 50,000 people who work in the Greenbrier area. Walters said Chesapeake's growing population and influx of businesses make the expansion necessary.
"Childcare accessibility is a fundamental issue to workforce development," Walters said.
Walters said parents need reliable places for their children so they can work, and they cannot afford to be on waiting lists. The expansion will include a regulation basketball court, updated wellness facilities, and revolutionized childcare services.
"We are seeing the importance of childcare accessibility and making sure that families have somewhere for early learning to be addressed," Walters said.
For working Chesapeake families, reliable childcare is a critical resource. Ashton Zeplin, a mother of three with an active-duty military spouse, relies on the Greenbrier Family YMCA three days a week. She uses the facility's drop-off program to work out or catch up on her part-time job.
"If I'm like ‘oh man. I’ve gotta get something done,’ like I can always come here and drop them off. Even if I’m not going to utilize the equipment, I can just sit in the chairs and do other work things that I need to get done," Zeplin said.
Zeplin has been bringing her children to the facility since 2019. She said the staff knows her family by name and has watched her kids grow up, with two of them attending since they were 6 weeks old.
"To be free from the overstimulation of everything else, to be like, okay, I don't have to worry about them for 2 hours. I can go and I can have my time," Zeplin said.
She also utilizes the monthly parents' timeout program for date nights, noting that the $15 cost for all three of her children is a steal compared to hiring a babysitter. She hopes the expansion will bring more preschool spaces and summer camp spots, which she said currently sell out in minutes.
"This is my favorite location out of all of the locations in the area. If they can take the funds from Greenbrier North, and bring them over to Greenbrier Family, and make this gym and this location better, I’m all for it," Zeplin said.
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