Plans are moving ahead for the expansion of the Midtown YMCA in Wilmington.

Earlier this month, the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina submitted site plans for the proposed addition to the city of Wilmington. The project is set to go before Wilmington’s Technical Review Committee in mid-July.

The proposed $15 million expansion includes a new aquatics center, new sports courts and classrooms is part of the Y’s expanding footprint in the Cape Fear region. 

"As our community continues to grow with new homes and neighborhoods, it’s time to expand this YMCA into a full-service facility," wrote Stacy Bennett, the organization's marketing and communications director, in an email to the Business Journal on Tuesday. 

"This future growth will allow us to enhance key programs like childcare, community health, and aquatics — responding to what our members and neighbors have told us they need most."

The YMCA purchased the Temple Baptist Activity Center at 709 George Anderson Drive in midtown Wilmington last year in a $3.5 million transaction. The Y has operated its midtown location there since 2016 in partnership with Temple Baptist Church.

The Midtown YMCA currently has 16,000 square feet. The planned addition would grow the facility to 48,000 square feet. In comparison, the Nir Family YMCA on Market Street is approximately 60,000 square feet.

Site plans show the proposed expansion would include a 15,400-square-foot addition to the existing Midtown YMCA building along with an 8,555-square-foot natatorium. An 8,000-square-foot airnasium, an open-air gym structure with a roof and open walls, is also part of the proposal, along with new playgrounds and an exercise yard. The expansion will also increase parking at the facility from its current 106 parking spaces to 205, site plans show.

Dick Jones, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina, told Wilmington leaders earlier this year the expansion would bring three new multi-sport courts and a full-size basketball court, along with more classrooms and meeting spaces, to the area.

Jones said the YMCA expects the expansion to add 6,000 members, grow child care enrollment by 50%, result in 2,000 additional swimming lessons each year and offer the capacity to provide water safety lessons to second-grade students in New Hanover County.

According to Bennett, the YMCA is "actively raising funds" for the expansion. This spring, Jones told city leaders the group had raised more than half of the project's $15 million cost. Once the addition breaks ground, Bennett said, it could take at least 15 months to complete. 

Plans for the project are set to go before the city’s technical review committee July 17.