If you’re the kind of person who sets your fitness goals on New Year’s Day, the YMCA of the Chippewa Valley has a well-timed gift for you: Effective Jan. 1, the privately owned Eau Claire Fitness will be reborn as the Eau Claire South YMCA.

The health club at 3225 Lorch Ave., which until a couple of years ago was a Gold’s Gym, will become the local YMCA’s third full-service facility at the start of the new year.

Derek White said he met Laurie Powers, owner of Eau Claire Fitness, shortly after he became president and CEO of the local YMCA a year ago. They talked about her operations and her interest in selling the business, which ultimately led to an offer to purchase from the YMCA.

“The Powers family are friends and supporters of the YMCA and we are very appreciative of their trust in the Y as good stewards of the business they put so much passion and energy into building,” White said.

The 50,000-square-foot Eau Claire Fitness, which opened in 2008, features amenities such as cardio equipment, a weight room, group exercise spaces, a basketball court, a pool, a sauna, childcare facilities, and more.

As of Jan. 1, the facility will be available to all YMCA of the Chippewa Valley members. Likewise, all Eau Claire Fitness members will become YMCA members, White said. They can expect a letter in the near future that will explain the change and the new fee structure, he added.

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My mentality has always been that the Y is the front porch of the community.

DEREK WHITE

YMCA OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY PRESIDENT & CEO

White said that the purchase of the facility is part of the YMCA’s long-term effort to better serve its 18,000 members and the community as a whole. “My responsibility since I was hired last October is to identify what the long-term plan is for the YMCA of the Chippewa Valley,” he said. “Collectively with the staff and volunteers, we are working on what the next 50 to 100 years look like for the organization.”

Other YMCA of the Chippewa Valley facilities include the Eau Claire Downtown YMCA (700 Graham Ave.), the Chippewa Falls YMCA (611 Jefferson Ave.), the Menard Tennis Center (1260 Menomonie St.), the L.E. Phillips YMCA Sports Center (3456 Craig Road), as well as Camp Manitou near New Auburn.

White said the local YMCA intends that the Eau Claire South YMCA will be a self-sustaining facility because of the new members it will bring to the organization. Funds for the purchase came from operational funds accrued over the past few years, he said. White explained that the money didn’t come from previous capital campaigns to either renovate the downtown Eau Claire location or build an entirely new YMCA as part of UW-Eau Claire’s Sonnentag Center development on Menomonie Street (a project the YMCA pulled out of in 2019).

And the purchase doesn’t indicate the YMCA plans to leave its downtown Eau Claire facility anytime soon, White added: “We have no intention of abandoning anyone. We want to make sure what we do is strategic and well-planned.”

To that end, the YMCA has spent nearly $600,000 over the past two years on maintenance to improve current facilities for its members.

“My mentality has always been that the Y is the front porch of the community,” added White, who has spent more than 20 years working for YMCAs, primarily in the southeastern U.S. “Everyone comes, commonality happens, and relationships are built. (The purchase) adds another operational hub for us.”

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Learn more about the YMCA of the Chippewa Valley online at ymca-cv.org. Get a look at Eau Claire Fitness at eauclaire-fitness.com.