Goodyear Fitness Center members were in mourning last year, when the Havelock gym announced it was closing after nearly 40 years.
But next door, at the Northeast Family Center, they were feeling something else.
Anxiety.
The 30-year-old nonprofit rented its building from the fitness center, and now its own future was uncertain.
“It was definitely a worry that if they were to sell the buildings or cancel the lease, we would not have had a place to go,” said director Curt Krueger.
Northeast Family operates its early learning center next door and community learning centers at Norwood Park and Brownell elementary schools. Altogether, it serves about 150 kids, most of them low-income.
Privately, Krueger started searching for a nearby home big enough to accommodate the center and help fulfill its mission: Educate kids, engage families, empower the community of northeast Lincoln.
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“We knew we were going to stay open one way or another,” he said. “But trying to find a replacement would be very, very difficult.”
Publicly, though, he was keeping his mouth shut. He didn’t want his staff, or the families they serve, to worry.
“We didn’t communicate anything to them until we knew what was going on. We didn’t want massive rumors out there.”
There already was a massive rumor, though. Krueger and others had heard from fitness center staff that its board of directors was considering giving Northeast Family both buildings and the full city block surrounding them at 62nd Street and Logan Avenue. Assessed value: $710,000.
The renters could soon be the owners.
But then months passed without hearing anything official from the fitness center board, extending the uneasiness.
“There was a long time when we had heard they were thinking of giving us the buildings, but there wasn’t any action,” said Katie Haszard, president of the Northeast Family board.
After the fitness center closed, the Goodyear Employees’ Activities Association was forced to decide what to do with its property. And its bylaws were clear, said Travis McFarland, the association’s board president: If the association dissolved, nobody could profit.
They had to give it away, and the recipient was obvious.
“There’s a long-running partnership between the Goodyear Fitness Center and Northeast Family Center, and the board made the decision they would give them the property,” McFarland said. “If things work out for them, it should set them up financially for the long term.”
It became official in December, and Northeast Family started 2020 as a property owner.
Haszard called it a much-appreciated gift from the Goodyear board. “It ensures our future in the Havelock area.”
But the donation is a mixed blessing. For years, Northeast Family didn’t have to worry about the maintenance and insurance and other costs required to keep a pair of 100-year-old school buildings open. The landlord took care of that.
“It puts a stress on us in the beginning,” Krueger said. “We had to take these things up; we had to take up the utilities for both buildings.”
Northeast Family Center staff haven’t moved any programs into the new building, because it’s not licensed as a child care center. But they do walk their kids down there occasionally on field trips, to bounce balls around in an exercise studio.
Instead, they plan to sell the former fitness center, but that will take time — and money.
It’s one big property, so they need to split the parcel. And the fitness center’s boiler served both buildings, so the family center is spending $70,000 to $80,000 to install its own heating and air-conditioning systems, Krueger said.
After paying that bill, they’ll use what’s left from the sale for more upgrades, such as new windows. “And to provide the long-term financial stability we haven’t had before,” he said.
Ideally, he’d like to see the three-story fitness center building developed into family housing on the top two floors, with the gym remaining on the first as a community center.
But the board will look at most offers, Haszard said.
“We’d love to have someone that could utilize our services but not conflict with ours. Other than that, I think we’re open to see who’s interested.”