Founded in 1888, the Bedford Stuyvesant YMCA is one of the oldest branches in NYC. It has seen many changes in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. In 2005, the YMCA entered into a partnership with the City of New York to renovate and share one of its buildings as a charter high school, the Bedford Academy High School. The adjoining outdated building was demolished and replaced with a new community and fitness center that since 2007 serves local YMCA members as well as the high school during gym classes.  

Recipient of the 2007 Building Brooklyn Design Award, the new 20,000 GSF Fitness & Community Center consists of classrooms and cardiovascular areas on the entry floor, lockers in the basement, and a front courtyard garden. It was designed by B+MD Architects to expand three stories vertically in the future.   The building exterior was designed with similar brickwork as the adjacent existing buildings in the neighborhood. Inside, a 2-story open stair way with windows connects the entrance with the membership lounge at the floor below. Visible through the large windows along Monroe Street, a 100’ long ceramic tile mosaic overlooks the membership lounge. It memorializes the history of the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA by illustrating a football scene depicted in an archival photograph.