WAIPAHU — Leeward YMCA officials want to re-establish the Waipahu mill site as the nerve center it was when O'ahu Sugar Plantation was the hub of the region through most of the 20th century.

But rather than jobs, the Y is offering a spanking-new $13.5 million fitness center that blends the mill's venerable smokestack and generator building into a new structure featuring state-of-the-art exercise equipment and other modern conveniences for a region long starved for such a facility.

It's convinced John Felisi, 65, who has been working out there six days a week since it opened early last month. "It's great, I love it," said Felisi, a lifelong Nanakuli resident.

Felisi remembers the mill being the lifeline for the region when he attended Waipahu High School as a youth. Now, he is trying to get his former classmates to join up too, and so far he's gotten at least 10 of his friends to enlist.

That's music to the ears of Leeward Y executive director Manuel Ayala, whose goal is to reach a total membership of 3,000 units — defined as individual members, couples or families — by the end of the year. Three weeks after opening the new fitness center, the Y has so far reached more than 750 units. That translates to more than 1,800 people, Ayala said.

"When O'ahu Sugar was in its prime, this whole area was the gathering spot for the community," Ayala said. "Once the sugar mill shut down, there was a void. There was no more gathering places around here."

The critical selling point for the Y is that it's the only fitness facility for miles around that is geared for families, and Y officials note that the new building includes a "child-watch area" where youngsters are kept occupied with activities while their parents work out.

"There has been a need to have a suitable place for the entire family," Ayala said. As a result, 55 percent of the membership units consist of families with school-aged children from Central and Leeward O'ahu.

The facility's expansive lobby with picture windows overlooking Waipahu and the iconic mill smokestack is befitting of a modern hotel. But perhaps the most impressive section is the weight training and cardiovascular exercise room converted from what used to be O'ahu Sugar's generator building, which features a view of Diamond Head. The treadmills, elliptical machines, stairclimbers and stationary bikes each have their own TVs.

The new facility also features a six-lane, 25-yard pool, two large fitness classrooms and lockers. A healthy-foods snack bar is scheduled to go in later.

The Leeward Y moved into the mill site in 1998, three years after the plantation shut down, but until now has only been operating childcare facilities for school-aged children out of several existing wooden buildings.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.