Three months into the Morrison YMCA fight, the sale is holding and the arguments have hardened

The Morrison Family YMCA in Ballantyne is still open, still running its camps and after-school programs, and still scheduled to close in the summer of 2027 when its sale to Moments of Hope Church for $42.5 million is expected to be finalized. Three months after the YMCA of Greater Charlotte announced the deal on June 17, the opposition has not moved the board, and the board’s supporters have begun to speak up.

The latest development came on September 14, when sixteen longtime business and civic leaders, describing themselves as trustees, supporters and friends of the Y, sent a letter to The Charlotte Ledger backing the board’s decision. The same week the YMCA published an open letter laying out the financial pressures it has faced since the pandemic.

What was announced

The YMCA’s board approved a purchase and sale agreement for the 22-acre Morrison campus off Bryant Farms Road as part of what it called a reinvestment strategy under its 2025 to 2028 strategic plan. The buyer, Moments of Hope Church, plans to redevelop the property as its new home, with sports programming, community outreach and a possible future school, according to the YMCA’s announcement. The church’s lead pastor, David Chadwick, told WBTV the congregation had outgrown its Providence Road site and that the purchase ended a years-long search for a permanent home.

The Y has said the decision was not driven by Morrison’s own finances. The branch serves about 4,200 households, WBTV reported, and offers after-school and summer programs many parents depend on. Members will keep access to every other YMCA location, and the Y has pointed to nearby branches, Sara’s YMCA in Ballantyne, the Harris YMCA, the Brace YMCA and the Hemby Program Center, as the places Morrison families can go.

The case against

The reaction was immediate. An online petition demanding that the Y pause the sale, investigate alternatives and hold community forums passed 4,600 signatures by late June, WSOC reported. On July 12 more than a hundred people rallied outside the branch chanting to save their Y, according to WFAE, and a group calling itself the Save Morrison YMCA Coalition has continued to press the board to reconsider. Members told reporters the objection was not about a gym. It was about a gathering place that had anchored Ballantyne for nearly 25 years.

The sale also revived an older grievance. The Y closed its NoDa branch in 2023, and the Morrison deal is the second closure of a Y in a high-value Charlotte location in a few years, Spectrum News noted. Critics have read the pattern as the organization cashing in real estate.

The case for

The YMCA’s board answered the protests in July with a statement that the sale fit its strategic plan and would strengthen long-term financial sustainability while accelerating improvements across the association, WBTV reported. The proceeds, the Y has said, will fund investments across its network, including:

• modernization projects at the Johnston YMCA, the Stratford Richardson YMCA, the Harris YMCA and the Hemby Program Center
• a redevelopment of the Johnston campus in which the Y keeps and operates the main facility, helped by a $5 million federal appropriation
• childcare expansion, technology and investments in staff
• upgrades at the south Charlotte branches expected to absorb Morrison’s members

The financial backdrop is real. The Ledger reported in 2025 that the Y was carrying about $32 million in debt and that membership had fallen 50 to 60 percent during the pandemic before beginning to recover; its revenue dropped $28 million from 2019 to 2021. The organization’s September open letter described the unsolicited $42.5 million offer as too good to refuse given those lingering challenges, according to the Ledger. Board chair Jeff Brown, a partner at Moore & Van Allen, said in June that strong stewardship requires bold decisions and long-term thinking.

The sixteen signers of the September 14 letter wrote that the board’s decision was not easy and was made with appreciation for what Morrison has meant to Ballantyne, but that they support it, according to the Ledger.

The Morrison sale also sits inside a wider set of hard choices at the Y. Its NoDa branch closed in 2023, and Lincoln County leaders have publicly worried about the future of two branches there as the organization has looked for financial stability. The Y has said it is exploring possibilities for all of its facilities while committing to keep serving Ballantyne and south Charlotte through its remaining branches. Whether the Morrison proceeds produce the promised modernization at Johnston, Stratford Richardson and Harris is the test the organization has set for itself, and the one its critics will hold it to.

What happens between now and 2027

Nothing about the branch changes for members this school year. Programs, camps, services and the community partners that lease space inside the building continue through the anticipated closing, the Y has said. The agreement is a contract, not a closed sale, and the coalition’s hope rests on the board reconsidering before it closes. There is no public sign of that.

For the church, the work is fundraising and planning a redevelopment of a 22-acre campus that currently holds pools, gyms and fields, and deciding how much of that a congregation will keep. For Ballantyne, the question is what a neighborhood built around amenities does when one of the largest is sold. The petition is still open, the rallies have been smaller since July, and the Y’s supporters have now put their names on the other side of the argument. We will follow the closing.

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