Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka’s Purdy Fitness Center is scheduled to receive an overhauled Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system, or HVAC, this year.
This upgrade is the first significant renovation to the gym’s ventilation system since the facility opened in 2006.
The work will also require several partial closures, and potentially temporary full closures, starting next month until it’s projected completion date in late 2025.
The Move
Matt Olszyk is the CFA Yokosuka Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) athletic director. He’s been working at the Purdy Fitness Center for six years and understands the community’s anxiety. He and his team of installation fitness leaders spent more than two weeks putting together a plan to provide the base community many of the services they are accustomed to having available.
“We’re breaking this down into three phases,” Olszyk said. “The first phase really begins March 25 and carries us to late summer.”
Yokosuka’s fitness team coordinated with CFA Yokosuka Housing and DoDEA’s Yokosuka Middle School to help facilitate as many services as possible.
Purdy is scheduled to close March 25 for a week. This closing is to move equipment from point A to point B.
“Massage services are moving to Ichiban Tower. Fitness classes and martial arts are going to Niban Tower and a Family Fitness Room in Sanban Tower,” said Mike Motohashi, CFA Yokosuka MWR Supervisory Recreational Specialist.
Parking will be made available in the middle school parking garage.
The team decided on three phases, but willing to take community feedback “to flex. But first things first. Let’s get through Phase One,” Olyszk said.
To start the first phase, customers are asked to ensure their lockers are cleared out by March 22 and expect them to be unavailable for a year. On March 25, the team will then move the free weights up to the basketball court and haul equipment to the Housing community rooms. Once the move is complete, Purdy will have free weights upstairs and keep the indoor pool open for lap swimming.
“We’ll also have the Fleet Gym open for 24 hours soon,” Olyszk said.
The Upgrades
The installation’s public works officer is Cmdr. Tyler Scharar. He is tasked with directing the Purdy Fitness Center HVAC project. According to Scharar, Purdy’s HVAC system is nearing the end of it’s lifecycle.
Purdy’s HVAC situation has been in discussion “for several years now. Base leadership recognized that the project was inducted to not only replace the AC, but actually to improve and expand it’s capability,” Scharar said.
The gym opened January 18, 2006, three years after construction began. The original design contract was awarded in 2000. Meaning the almost 18-year-old facility is based on older building codes, some of which were written more than 10 years before the gym’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
In 2022, a design-build contract worth $15 million was awarded to bring Purdy’s HVAC system up to modern-day expectations.
“I approved the Purdy project the second week I was in command,” said the installation’s commanding officer, Capt. Les Sobol.
Sobol took command of CFAY in the summer of 2022. His first major decision was to authorize with the Purdy HVAC project and request to have it funded by Commander, Navy Region Japan, Rear Admiral Carl Lahti.
“Admiral Lahti agreed this was a community need that required his attention. His support was crucial, but that was never in question; he wants to support the community and the command and he backs it up with his actions,” Sobol said.
Now, in 2024, the project is in full swing.
“The design was completed last month and the [Government of Japan] has accepted what that design is going to look like for the contractor,” Scharar said.
CFAY Public Works Department and CFAY Fleet and Family Readiness Department work closely with the contractor finalizing construction schedules to lessen disruption to the gym’s services, even as major sections undergo renovation.
Larry Criner is in charge of CFAY’s Fleet and Family Readiness Department. Part of his role is to oversee CFA Yokosuka Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s management of the gyms’ operations during the installation.
“We understand this is a massive impact to the community and we’re doing everything we can to mitigate its effects,” Criner said. “One of those ways is to offer services as replacements to minimize the inconveniences.”
The upgrade extends beyond the gym. Environmental concerns prompted a separate contract to replace outdated refrigerants with eco-friendly options across the base. These improvements include replacing a chiller in the Duncan Street Child Development Center and enhancing air quality standards crucial for childcare.
Unaccompanied Housing, or UH, is also set to receive significant attention. Under the direction of the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, UH will receive higher levels of funding than the program had typically received in some cases. In particular, CFAY UH Building 1530, a community residence for single Sailors, has its own $15 million renovation scheduled to refit major mechanical and electrical systems.
Purdy Fitness Center opened in 2006 and spent it’s first year going by the unofficial moniker “New Thew Gym,” according to a January 26, 2007 Seahawk-Umitaka article by Keiichi Adachi of CFAY Public Affairs. The gym was formally named Purdy Fitness Center during a cake cutting ceremony in January 2017 after George I. Purdy. Purdy, also known as “Mister Navy,” was an iconic Yokosuka community member who had received the Third Class Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan in 1985 for his contributions to the U.S.-Japan alliance when he served under General Douglas MacArthur. Purdy and his wife, Midori, hosted an annual rigid-hull inflatable boat race in Green Bay Marina where the LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship he commanded had once moored. Mister Navy passed away in 2000.
For more information, please contact Purdy Fitness Center at 243-5398.
