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Midwest City, SSM Health and YMCA sign MOU to plan $40M–$50M recreation and aquatics center
Summary
Midwest City officials, SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital Midwest and the YMCA signed a ceremonial memorandum of understanding to begin planning a roughly 74,000-square-foot YMCA and aquatics center at Parklawn and National. Partners outlined funding commitments including a $20 million hospital-authority investment, $15 million from the hospital authority for the project, up to $15 million in YMCA fundraising and a $10 million school bond contribution; planning and stakeholder meetings will follow.
Midwest City city manager Tim opened a ceremonial signing event announcing a memorandum of understanding among the city, SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital Midwest and the YMCA to plan a new YMCA and aquatics center near the hospital.
"It's an incredible turnout for a signing ceremony. We feel like it's National Signing Day here," Tim said, telling the audience the property has been in use since 1960 and that local officials had pursued a long-term plan to make the project work.
The partners said the new facility will be located at the northeast corner of Parklawn and National, a short distance from St. Anthony's Midwest. Tim said the Midwest City Hospital Authority — whose trustees are the city council — has made a $20,000,000 investment in the Parklawn/National district and that work is currently in the engineering phase.
"We've committed $15,000,000 from the hospital authority to put into the project," Tim said, and he added that the YMCA is prepared to raise as much as $15,000,000 toward the build. He also said the local school district approved a $10,000,000 general obligation bond contribution. Tim estimated the project will cost at least $40,000,000 and possibly $45–$50,000,000 by completion.
Dr. Cobb, a member of the school board who spoke at the event, said the pool question on the bond passed with about 75% approval. "It passed with overwhelming approval of the community," he said, adding that residents want to see a modern facility that supports competitive swimming and broader wellness goals.
Stacy, representing SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital Midwest, described the hospital's relationship with the city as "unlike anything" and said the hospital is "willing and able to do whatever we can to make this successful."
Kelly, identified as YMCA leadership, said the organization plans a facility with pools, basketball and volleyball courts, indoor trails, a physical therapy center tied to the hospital partner, and early-childhood programming to address local childcare needs. She emphasized swim-safety and community benefits: "Oklahoma is still eighth in the country in childhood drownings, and that's unacceptable," Kelly said, calling the aquatics center an opportunity to teach children to swim and to strengthen community connections.
Tim also named Vaughn Sullivan, Midwest City's assistant city manager, as the project manager and said staff from finance, economic development, IT and operations will support planning, fundraising and community engagement. The partners said stakeholder meetings and town halls will be scheduled now that the MOU is signed.
The signing was described as ceremonial; all partner boards have approved the agreement and formal planning work will move forward while engineering continues for adjacent investments. The city did not announce a construction start date at the event.
