The Duneland Family YMCA is lining up financing so that construction can start by summer’s end on a 15,000 square-foot Wellness Center addition on the former Chesterton Middle School site.

Dave Kasarda, CEO for the Duneland Family YMCA, and Elizabeth Adcock, who is the chair for the Healthy Living Campus project, gave a short update during Monday’s Duneland School Board meeting.

The school board unanimously approved an amended lease and user agreement with the Duneland YMCA. Superintendent Chip Pettit said the new contract clarifies building maintenance responsibilities, parking and signage issues.

In 2023, the school district agreed to lease for $1 a year the Chesterton Middle School building to the Duneland YMCA. The Duneland School Corporation has kept its administration offices and some programs on the east side of the building.

“Without the school board and Dr. Pettit, none of this would have happened,” Kasarda said.

The Duneland YMCA has moved aquatics and many other programs over from its current facility at 215 Roosevelt St. in Chesterton to the old middle school building.

The project is being called a Healthy Living Campus because several community service agencies will move into the building.

“It’s really been quite an evolution in the last year,” Kasarda said, noting that there have been some changes with the design and plan to accommodate new partners.

Since the school permanently closed its doors in June 2024, the west side of the middle school building has been demolished.

The Y decided to keep the auditorium and there is a theatre committee that is looking at that portion of the project, Adcock said.

During spring, site work will be done to remove rubble and develop a parking lot on the western side of the building.

The old athletic fields that cover 20 acres will also be prepared for conversion into the Cleveland-Cliffs Community Park.

The 15,000-square-foot Wellness Center on the southwest side of the complex will house the exercise programs along with cardio and strength equipment.

A new, improved entrance will also be developed off of Porter Avenue, Adcock said.

Adcock and Kasarda wouldn’t say how much the new building is expected to cost as Kasarda noted that construction costs could rise because of tariffs. Kasarda recently stated the cost was projected to be $500 per square foot, which would total $7.5 million.

When the new construction is finished, the YMCA will close its current facility.

Adcock said that the Y has set aside space on the west side of the building on Morgan Street as the site for a future gymnasium that would also include a walking track.

Kasarda said the Y has also had ongoing discussions with the Chesterton Parks Department leadership about how Chesterton Park on the east side of the building can be incorporated into the site.

“It’s exciting that all the entities involved in this are at the same table, really looking at this at a higher level,” Kasarda said.

Jim Woods is a freelance.