Officials hope new $28 million YMCA facility will transform west Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Officials hope a new $28 million YMCA facility will help transform west Louisville.

The facility boasts an indoor track, as well as a pool with a 100-foot-long water slide. It will also have a fitness center, basketball courts, classrooms and locker rooms.

West Louisville YMCA construction (interior)

Construction on the two-story building began in October 2017 and is scheduled to be completed this October.

There will be a Best Buy Teen Tech Center, and for the very first time, the Family and Children's Place will have a mental health services center inside the YMCA.

"Unfortunately, Kentucky and Indiana are in the top two states for child abuse in our country," Family and Children's Place President and CEO, Pam Darnall said.

This project took 10 years to plan and the CEO of the YMCA of Greater Louisville says it's bringing services that have never been available to the community before.

"We will have a Branch Bank to provide fiscal literacy, a key health endeavor," said Steve Tarver, president and CEO of YMCA of Greater Louisville. "We will have physical and occupational therapy. We will have a pediatric and family medicine clinic right on site.

"We will be bringing about $500,000 a year in new payroll to the community," Tarver said. "We will give preference to hiring locally, and we will also give preference to hiring young people because the Y is one of the largest employers of young people in the region anyway."