See Inside the Haverford Area YMCA

On Friday the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Haverford Area YMCA.

The Y, which opened October 1, will serve about 20,000 people in the Haverford Township community. It includes a 13,000 square-foot wellness center, a double gymnasium, group exercise studios, youth activity center, aquatic center including a family fun pool, a 6 lane lap pool, sauna and whirlpool.

It is three times the size of the YMCA it replaced in Ardmore.

Haverford Township commissioner Mario Oliva said at the ceremony that the closed bubble gum factory previously on the site had become a blight to the township.

He said the new Y was "the third lemon to be turned into lemonade" in Haverford Township recently. He pointed to the Quarry Center, a shopping center located on a former trash site, and Haverford Preserve, built on the site of a former state hospital.