Old YMCA will become a gym, self-storage project
Friendswood attorney Jerome Karam has purchased the shuttered 1950s-era Cossaboom Family YMCA on the South Loop for his next project.
Karam, who is behind redevelopments such as Texas City’s Mall of the Mainland and Galveston’s Falstaff brewery, plans to repurpose the property into a five-story gym and a separate 45,000-squarefoot self-storage facility. The gym, Maxx Fitness, will contain up to 38,000 square feet with a focus on cardio equipment. Opening is targeted by November, Karam said.
The YMCA cited future flood risks as a reason for selling the facility, which has flooded multiple times and was damaged in Hurricane Harvey. The building is at 7903 South Loop East near Interstate 45.
Craig Guidry of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties represented Karam, who purchased the building through JMK5. Mark Nicholas of JLL represented the YMCA in the sale. The price was not disclosed.
Karam will own and operate the gym and self-storage facilities as he has done at other projects. His redevelopments at Mall of the Mainland include a 45,000-square-foot World Gym and Altitude Trampoline Park. Karam is preparing to turn the mall’s former J.C. Penney store into 83,000 square feet of climatecontrolled self-storage space.
“We take buildings that have sort of been forgotten, and then we bring it back to life,” Karam said.
Pinnacle Construction of Friendswood is handling the YMCA project, which will serve residents of La Porte, Pasadena, South Houston, EaDo and downtown.
“Within a 5-mile area, that area is devoid of gyms,” Karam said.
Since acquiring the longclosed Falstaff brewery at 3302 Church St. in Galveston in 2015, Karam has developed and a sold a parking facility serving the nearby cruise terminal. A self-storage facility is being developed with an event center on top with capacity for 400 guests in an area that previously housed a tasting room.
The venue, which will host weddings, corporate events and parties, is on target for completion in October, Karam said. Next, plans are in the works to begin a 110-room hotel redevelopment rising 100 feet high in 18 to 20 months under the Hotel RL brand.