A new $60 million youth basketball venue in downtown Phoenix is being put together from a nonprofit's site, a team foundation's partnership, and a housing developer's upper floors, and it can't start until an old building comes down. On October 19, the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, and the Valley of the Sun YMCA announced plans to develop a three-story, 55,000-square-foot YMCA with one NBA-size court and two high school-size courts. It's scheduled to open in 2029.
The $60 million is the total project cost, and none of the partners has said how much of it the teams are putting in. For anyone tracking where youth sports facility capital comes from, the more useful facts are who else sits in the deal and what has to happen on the site before construction can begin.
The Old Building Comes Before the New Courts
The new YMCA is planned for the site of the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA, which closed on September 30 after nearly 75 years downtown, Cronkite News reported. The demolition application put the property under a 60-day hold, because the building is eligible for the Phoenix Historic Property Register. On the evening of the announcement, the city's Historic Preservation Commission said it was concerned about the plan to tear the building down and that it may start the historic designation process at its November meeting, 12News reported. The hold ends November 20.
Jim Pittman, a YMCA board member, told the commission the 74-year-old building's infrastructure "is deteriorating and in some cases becoming unsafe," and he warned that delays would bring higher construction costs and uncertainty for fundraising and partnerships. If the commission starts designation, demolition stops, though 12News reported the YMCA could ask the city to consider an economic hardship case and the city could override the commission. Pittman's mention of fundraising suggests the capital plan behind the $60 million is still being assembled.
The calendar adds pressure. The release names the YMCA a community legacy project of NBA All-Star 2027 in Phoenix, and Axios reported the partners plan to break ground on February 18, 2027, during All-Star Week. That puts a public groundbreaking date on the far side of a preservation review whose outcome isn't known yet.
The Split Behind the $60 Million Is Undisclosed
The release describes the project as a partnership between the YMCA and the Phoenix Suns/Phoenix Mercury Foundation, the teams' charitable arm, founded in 1988. Axios described the building as jointly funded and said the teams plan to help build it. Neither the teams nor the YMCA has said how the cost divides among them, and no figure for the teams' own contribution is on the record. The headline number prices the building, and it shouldn't be read as the size of anyone's check.
The foundation's own figures give a sense of its usual scale. It says it contributes more than $5 million to the local community each year and has granted more than $50 million to nonprofit partners since its founding. Those are the foundation's numbers for its full program, and they don't say anything about this project's budget. What they do show is a team charity that has worked through nonprofit partners since 1988.
Housing Above the Courts Brings In a Third Builder
VanTrust Real Estate, the developer on the housing piece, will build three more stories above the center with about 60 units of affordable housing. The old building was one of the few YMCAs in the country that still offered low-cost residential housing, Cronkite News reported, so the plan keeps a housing use on the site while handing it to a separate developer. The release doesn't say how the housing is financed or whether any of it falls inside the $60 million.
The courts also share the building with a wide program mix: tutoring and internships, onsite counselors and coaches, career development, nutrition classes, and a full-service cafe. The release pitches the center as a hub for youth basketball in Arizona, with space for camps, clinics, and tournaments. Read together, the project is a mixed-use community building with youth basketball as the anchor use, run by a nonprofit operator with its own fundraising and its own board.
Takeaways for Investors
Youth Courts Are Arriving Through a Nonprofit's Site
The Suns and Mercury are adding youth basketball capacity on the YMCA's site and inside its programs. For camp, clinic, and tournament operators in the Phoenix market, that reads as new court supply run by a nonprofit rather than a private venue.
Mixed-Use Plans Spread the Build Across Partners
With a team foundation, a YMCA, and VanTrust each carrying part of the project, no single party's balance sheet shows the full commitment. Each partner's share will need to be disclosed separately before the deal can be sized.
An All-Star Date Puts Pressure on the Site Schedule
Tying the groundbreaking to All-Star Week in February 2027 gives the partners a fixed public date. Any delay in demolition likely shows up as cost, which Pittman has already said on the record.
Watch the November Preservation Decision
Whether the Historic Preservation Commission starts designation at its November meeting, and whether the YMCA then seeks an economic hardship ruling, decides whether the 2029 opening holds. The demolition hold ends November 20.
