54-year-old building on McNabb Street to be demolished, replaced with this...

Sault Ste. Marie City Council will be asked next week to throw its weight behind a proposal to build a gleaming new YMCA on McNabb Street.

Tracey Cooke, Sault Y chief executive officer, will appear at next week's City Council meeting to pitch the idea.

Councillors will be asked to support the city's application for funding to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program: Culture and Recreation Stream.

A draft architectural rendering to be shown to council on Tuesday is based on the Chatham-Kent YMCA, which was designed by Tillman Ruth Robinson Inc., the same firm that designed the 2011 academic building at Sault College and a massive new log convention centre at Killarney Mountain Lodge. 

The YMCA has been active in Sault Ste. Marie for almost 120 years.

Its existing building at 235 McNabb is more than a half-century old.

"The current 54-year-old facility on McNabb Street has aged to a point where it is no longer able to meet the needs of its members or our community at large and is nearing the end of its life cycle," says a resolution on the agenda for next week's council meeting.

Proposed programs and activities include billiards, music, gaming and homework help at an after-school and weekend space for youth, as well as indoor soccer, lacrosse, basketball, Pilates, TRX and communal meal preparation classes.

City Council meetings usually happen on Mondays, but next week's session will be delayed one day because of the federal election.

It will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.