DAPHNE, Ala.—The YMCA of South Alabama will purchase Omni Health and Fitness’ Daphne location at Magnolia Place shopping center, allowing the Bounds Family YMCA to expand its operations and make room for a 45,000 square-foot Publix supermarket.

The YMCA will renovate its gymnasium, turning it into a 16,000 square-foot exercise floor—purportedly the largest in Baldwin County.

“It will be about 16,000 square feet of just fitness floor equipment,” YMCA of South Alabama CEO Mark Hanke said.

The YMCA’s renovation will involve moving most of Omni’s equipment into its redesigned fitness center.

Hanke said a portion of the equipment not making the move will be sent to other area YMCAs.

“What we’re doing is redistributing it to the other Y’s,” he said. “We hope to complete the equipment and facility transition later this month or by early April.”

The transition will involve a remodeling project that will force both the YMCA and Omni to close for a brief, undetermined time, during which, members may use the YMCA’s other four area branches—two in Mobile, and centers in Saraland and Foley.

Omni plans to permanently close its Daphne facility in May.

The YMCA is conducting efficiency studies to determine how many Omni employees are needed to make the transition.

“Right now, we’re evaluating staff needs at the Y,” Hanke said. “I don’t think all of them will go over.”

The YMCA is negotiating with Omni’s personal training staff; it will hold an interview-and-application process for administrative Omni employees, he said.

The planning commission last November approved a site plan for construction of a new Publix in the shopping center. Besides renovations made to the building currently occupied by Omni—including creating a drive-thru pharmacy—the project calls for water treatment, landscaping and parking lot improvements.

“Right now, there is no water runoff system in place,” Christopher Baker, project developer with Hutchinson, Moore and Rauch, said.

“We’ll reconstruct the drainage and build an oil, water and debris separator to improve water quality currently flowing into the bay.”

An underground detention system will be installed to improve the site’s existing storm water runoff management, Baker said.

“We’re not only installing volume management but environmental management,” he said.

Plans also include building 19 islands of landscaping in the parking lot.

“We’re picking up on the aesthetics of Thomas Medical Center and blending that into the rest of the project,” Baker said.

The majority of Magnolia Place, he said, will receive a facelift to match Publix’s façade; only properties in the shopping center owned by Wallace Real Estate will be redesigned. Two lots adjacent to the medical center are owned by other real estate agencies and will not receive improvements.

With the merger, the YMCA can offer former Omni members services previously not available to them, according to Hanke.

“There’s certain things that we’ve got that they can’t offer,” he said. “Omni doesn’t have the pool. What we can also offer is racquetball courts, KidZone, youth services and afterschool programs.”

The merger also provides to former Omni members the services of a network of county-wide YMCAs.

“They get access to all of our branches,” he said. “They can use any of the Y’s in Mobile or Baldwin counties.”

The YMCA will assume all existing Omni memberships and personal training agreements, according to Hanke.

“The merger equates to a win-win situation for YMCA and Omni members,” he said.

See the rest of this story in the March 18 Daphne Bulletin.