Focus on moving Next to new home in 2026

While it’s been a long and arduous journey by Birmingham officials, city commissioners and the leaders of the Next group, it appears that the non-profit organization that has served the senior segment of the community for decades is finally preparing to move into its new home.

Next has been serving the needs of those 50+ years of age in Birmingham, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills, Franklin and surrounding areas for nearly five decades. The non-profit has been housed in the Midvale Elementary School, thanks to the Birmingham School District which also serves the same geographical area. But in the spring of 2027 the district plans on using the school building for early childhood development education, which prompted the search for a new place for Next.

We have to admit there were times in the last couple of years that we had our concerns. The city of Birmingham in 2023 purchased the building at 400 East Lincoln which has been the base of the YMCA in Birmingham for years. Of the purchase price of $2 million, the Next group put up $500,000, along with the proceeds of a $250,000 grant to help fund initial preliminary work on the project, which included an assessment of the building that suggested that it would be preferable to build a new building rather than rehab the current structure. But then the situation became more complicated.

The YMCA was originally going to remain in the current building until mid 2026, at which time it was going to join an ambitious plan for a new and larger YMCA to be built in the Royal Oak area, which failed to develop due to finances. So then the YMCA decided it wanted to remain in Birmingham, although it had no funds to contribute to the project. It was a decision that helped balloon the size of the building that was going to be planned which turned into an approximate $36 million project. Voters were going to be asked this year to approve proposed bonds and funding it over 20-25 years.

Federal tariffs and the loss of a promised earmark that would have covered a quarter o the building costs forced the city commission to rethink how to proceed. In recent weeks the city commission, on a split vote of 5-2, decided that the ask was simply too much to put before voters.

So now a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreed to by the city and Next at the time of the purchase will be implemented and some updating of the first floor of the building will take place, underwritten by an approximate $3 million fund from a three-year millage voters approved for the new home of the seniors group. As outlined in the MOU, Next would occupy at least 75 percent of the building.

A rough estimate of a time frame for all of this means a development firm already working on the project will now develop an improvement plan for the structure, then a request for proposals will be issued. At some point in the first half of 2026 a firm should be hired to do the actual construction work.

According to the current three-year lease with the YMCA, that group is supposed to exit the building by June of 2026, although there is talk that the YMCA may ask for an extension, which will only delay construction in our view. We hope that request will be rejected by the city. YMCA members from the city can use the Royal Oak facility two miles down the road and it’s time to get moving on whatever work needs to be done to provide a home for Next, which means clearing out the second floor, closing the pool and reimagining use of that space.

The quicker the better when it comes to letting Next move into its new home.