The YMCA is looking to raze its downtown Phoenix fitness facility and adjoining low-income housing community after calling the space home for 75 years.
Earlier in September 2026, the YMCA submitted a demolition application to Phoenix’s Historic Preservation Office, which has roughly two months to decide whether the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA near First Avenue and Taylor Street can be knocked down.
Ryan Knack, associate vice president of marketing and communications for the Valley of the Sun YMCA, was not immediately available to provide comment on Sept. 23.
Demolition applications for commercial and residential buildings are placed on a 60-day hold if such properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or they have been found
to be eligible for historic designation, according to the city.
City records showed that the pause will expire on Nov. 20.
The aging building, which was constructed in 1951, was already set to close on Sept. 30, displacing the roughly 60 residents who are going through the organization’s transitional housing program.
Those residents have since joined a local tenants union to demand “better treatment and stable housing,” as well as a three-month pause on the evictions.
“As Sept. 30 approaches, the YMCA must make good on their promise to keep us housed,” the residents collectively stated in a Sept. 19 letter. “This is a transitional housing program, but are we being transitioned right back onto the streets?”
YMCA still owns the building and doesn’t have plans to sell the property, Knack said in early September.
“We are actively working on plans for the future of the YMCA at this location and expect to have some exciting news to share once we have more details," he said at the time.
He previously explained that the YMCA was shuttering the building because it "reached the end of its useful life" as it "required significant repairs to critical building systems.” YMCA also found that it wasn’t sustainable to continue operating the housing program in the facility.
Since first notifying the residents of the plans to close, YMCA has been working to transition the tenants into new housing, Knack said.
Many of those residents, however, have recently disputed such efforts.
Backed by the Valley Tenants Union, the residents said that “only a select few have been connected with alternative resources and housing through our case managers.”
In their letter, the residents demanded, among other things, that the YMCA halt all evictions until everyone has been relocated into permanent housing, extend the housing program through Jan. 1, cover their moving-related expenses and repay the rent they paid this year.
“While we appreciate the shelter and resources that the YMCA housing program has provided, we are now being betrayed by the very people who once opened their doors to us,” the residents stated. “This is distressing and takes a significant emotional toll on us.”
This is a developing story. Check back on azcentral.com for more details.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Downtown Phoenix YMCA could be torn down after 75 years, displacing residents
