A $2.4 million outdoor renovation project has kicked off at the Caine Halter Family YMCA in Greenville.
Long-awaited upgrades are being made to one of the branch’s youth sports fields and the parking lot over the summer. YMCA staff, board members, donors and community supporters celebrated the start of renovations at a groundbreaking ceremony on June 8. The Caine Halter Family YMCA is located at 721 Cleveland St. in Greenville.
The facility’s youth sports fields sit at the lowest elevation on the 26-acre campus, often becoming waterlogged from stormwater runoff after heavy rain. Jaime Johnson, executive director of the Caine Halter Family YMCA, said water can sit on the fields for up to two weeks, resulting in canceled practices and postponed games.
The renovation project will solve this problem by raising the sports fields, creating an underground stormwater retention pond and adding new artificial turf. This will ensure the field can be used year-round. The parking lot will also be extended next to the sports field, creating 110 additional parking spaces for families and spectators.
With the field upgrades, it will also be able to serve more children through its youth sports program. Sam Franklin, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greenville, said the nonprofit organization has doubled the size of its youth sports programming since 2017. Approximately 13,000 children were served in the YMCA’s youth sports program in the past year, with ongoing waitlists.
“Since COVID, we’ve had 200 plus kids on the waitlist for spring and fall soccer, probably another 100 in flag football,” Franklin said. “It was because of the field, we just didn’t have the space.”
The enhanced sports field will allow for six new youth soccer teams for the age group with the greatest demand: children ages three to seven. More than 120 additional boys and girls will be able to participate in the branch’s sports programming. Johnson said the improvements would also allow the branch to potentially add new adult sports programs.
The youth sports field and parking lot renovations represent the latest project of the Caine Halter Family YMCA’s $8.5 million “Building a Brighter Tomorrow” capital campaign. The public phase of the capital campaign kicked off in October 2023. Since then, the campaign has raised $6.7 million and supported several other improvement projects at the 66-year-old branch, including:
- Installing a retractable enclosure system over the branch’s outdoor pool
- Renovating the branch’s original gymnasium
- Upgrading the branch’s tennis center to add three pickleball courts
Field 1 will be closed over the next few months while renovations are underway. The branch’s three remaining fields will still be accessible. According to the YMCA, a portion of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail behind the sports field will be temporarily closed in mid-June for the project. Renovations are expected to be completed in August.
The final phase of the “Building a Brighter Tomorrow” capital campaign will be installing a new community pavilion next to the youth sports field. The pavilion would feature restrooms, gathering space, a picnic area and storage. Franklin said they also hope to raise more funding down the road to re-turf the other three youth sports fields.
For more information, visit ymcagreenville.org/caine-halter-capital-campaign.
History and Facts
The YMCA of Greenville was founded in 1876 in downtown Greenville. The Caine Halter Family YMCA, previously the Cleveland Street YMCA, was constructed in 1960. Today, the YMCA of Greenville serves more than 85,000 people across its branches and programs.
