BRUNSWICK

Area businesses, volunteers and supporters of the Bath

Area Family YMCA braved Thursday’s cold and damp weather for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for their Brunswick Landing facility.

Mike Feldman, chairman of the Brunswick Downtown Association, opened the event by saying the size and diversity of the crowd at the ribbon cutting was indicative of community interest in not only having the facility, but in having it as part of the growing Brunswick Landing.

“It’s very exciting to see the development here. It’s what we expected, but faster than what we expected,” Feldman said.

Feldman said Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Steve Levesque and his staff can be thanked for the rapid turnaround on the former Navy base.

Feldman also commended the choice of Charlie Ault as the Brunswick Landing YMCA branch director, saying anyone who has worked with Ault knows what a valuable resource he is for the organization.

Scott Mills, Bath Area Family YMCA’s board chairman, said the journey leading up to Thursday’s ceremony began years ago with a strategic plan to begin to look at the community in a broader sense.

Mills said that journey took them to Brunswick Landing and a series of meetings with Levesque and Tom Wright, who owned the building and is also the director of neighboring Seeds of Independence.

“We feel very fortunate to have (had) those meetings and those partners,” Mills said.

Mills said community can be defined a number of different ways, saying he feels fortunate the growing community of the Midcoast has a “different flavor.” He said the YMCA now has the space, programs and people to meet the needs of that community.

Sabrina Murphy, executive director of the Bath and Brunswick Landing YMCA, said she is particularly grateful for the volunteers and the staff that helped make the project happen.

“The staff are community dedicated and love their jobs and show up for weekends and nights and do more than you ever ask of them, because they have a smile on their face and they love their job,” Murphy said.

Ault said he was short for words after the ribbon cutting.

“I’m just so happy for the support that everyone’s shown us today,” Ault said.

The new facility houses a basketball court, workout room and conference space, as well as areas for yoga, aerobics and Reiki. It has been open and functioning since January, and still hosting the Navy, with crews from ships at Bath Iron Works using the facility for physical training.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com