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The Bob Adams Family Community YMCA — including the Christy Birkhold Wellness Center and George Jenkins Fieldhouse — will open on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 3620 Cleveland Heights Blvd. in Lakeland. The site was formerly known as the Lakeland Family YMCA.
Years in the making
This project has been in development for years. In 2022, the original building — now called the Historic Y — was running at maximum capacity for youth sports like basketball and indoor soccer, said T.J. Wright, CEO of YMCA of West Central Florida.
With so many kids and members on campus, spaces were crowded. Staff members at the Y started dreaming about what expansion might look like: “Obviously more space, more basketball, more indoor soccer or turf and then a larger weight room,” he said.
Now, that vision is becoming a reality.
Lakelanders are invited to explore the new building during an open house on Thursday, Oct. 30, from 1 to 7 p.m.
New facilities
The new entrance is bright and spacious, featuring a donor wall recognizing supporters who made the project possible. Childcare facilities for those utilizing the gym are now more conveniently located near the check-in desk.
The first floor of the Christy Birkhold Wellness Center is dedicated to strength training. On the second floor, the cardio deck provides ample space for equipment, including Matrix treadmills, stairclimbers and ellipticals.
“We take the whole family approach, and so we have a little bit of everything instead of focusing on just cardio or strength,” Wright said. The expanded space doubles the Y’s equipment, with room to grow.
The George Jenkins Fieldhouse at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
Basketball and volleyball courts at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
Basketball and volleyball courts at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
Indoor turf at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
The hanging track at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A portion of the cardio deck at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A portion of the strength floor at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A portion of the strength floor at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA | Anna Toms, LkldNow
The new George Jenkins Fieldhouse features flexible court space, named for the Clark Family, with six suspended basketball goals and two volleyball nets. Staff will operate a switch to raise and lower the hoops and nets. A curtain divider down the center of the court allows for two games to be played simultaneously.
The fieldhouse supports indoor soccer and other sports. The first indoor soccer games at the Lakeland Family YMCA were actually played on a basketball court, Wright explained. Eventually, they added turf in a space that was previously used for gymnastics, “and it absolutely blew up,” he said.
They hope the turf field in the George Jenkins Fieldhouse will allow the Y to expand their programmatic offerings to include other sports, like flag football, lacrosse and field hockey.
A one-tenth-mile hanging track overlooks the turf and courts in the fieldhouse. “That concept kind of came about from us seeing other fieldhouses throughout the country,” Wright said. He recalled being inspired by the University of Central Florida’s facilities in Orlando. The track will be available for exercise purposes only, and they are exploring the possibility of hosting indoor running clubs. Bleachers will be open to spectators around the courts.
Courts and fields will be available for both programming and open member use, including designated times for pickup-games.
One bite at a time
Long before construction on the new facility began, the staff and board members thought of the scope of the project and its $21 million budget, and recalled the proverbial, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” And the Elephant Club was born.
Twenty-two Elephant Club members donated $100,000 and helped secure additional funding. A plaque in new facility honors their contribution.
“A lot of our donors are either currently still utilizing the Y or they have in the past and their kids are utilizing it now,” said Wright.
Bob Adams, the namesake of the new facility, worked out daily at the Y until recently. “Literally every single day he was here, working out, lifting weights, on a treadmill, just huge supporter of the Y and our mission,” Wright said.
Rodda Construction managed the project, led by Jodie Rodda, senior vice president of construction. “Jodie plays racquetball here all the time, so this is like his baby, his project,” Wright said. “He’s been super helpful and just making sure we stay on time and on budget.”
“We’re extremely proud of the project,” Wright said. “There’s a handful of us who were here prior to COVID, and, you know, that was just such a scary time for a lot of organizations … so for us to make it through that and then be able to go through a project like this, of this scale, and to see it through fruition has been incredible.”
What’s next
Infrastructure upgrades to the childcare building are already underway. Next up for the Historic Y:
- Replacing 60-year-old mainline plumbing
- Installing new flooring in the basketball gym
- Adding a dedicated space for personal training
By June 2026, the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA will have doubled its basketball and soccer space — and built in plenty of room for future growth.
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