When you hear "Young Family Athletic Center," do you picture the big building in Norman with the pools, the café and courts as far as you can see? Plenty of people do. Yukon is getting a building with the same name across Yukon Parkway from Yukon High School, but the plan on file with the City of Yukon describes a very different place.
The Yukon center, called YFAC West, anchors Miller Crossing, a 25-acre mixed-use development at 1900 S. Yukon Parkway. Ground was broken on Sept. 4, 2026. The Journal Record calls it the largest commercial venture in Yukon's history. The paper adds that it sits on land annexed from Oklahoma City. The gym is the part with the famous name. Day to day, the rest of the site is likely to be the part you notice more.
Same Name, Smaller Building
The best preview of YFAC West is the original, and the original turns out to be a loose fit. Here's how the two compare, based on the City of Norman's facility page and the draft project plan in Yukon's April 2026 council packet.
Norman YFAC | YFAC West, Yukon | |
|---|---|---|
Size | 122,000 square feet | About 50,000 square feet, indoor multi-sport |
Basketball courts | 8 | 6 |
Volleyball courts | 12, laid over the basketball courts | 6 |
Pickleball | 18 indoor courts plus 6 outdoor | Listed for events |
Pools | Two, a competition pool and a warm-up pool | None in the plan |
Fitness | NMotion sports and human performance center, about 25,000 square feet, run with Norman Regional | Weight room and fitness center |
Status | Open since February 2024 | Under construction |
Norman's building also has a café, a natatorium with spectator seating, and an outdoor turf field added in a later expansion. Yukon's plan describes a court building first. The Trae Young Family Foundation says YFAC West will host basketball, volleyball and pickleball events, including regional and national youth tournaments. Syntrias managing partner Clay Cockrill told the Journal Record it will be "a world-class AAU basketball and volleyball facility to host regional and some national tournaments through Trae Young's endorsement contracts," and that it will sell gym memberships too.
If you're wondering about membership costs, Yukon hasn't published any prices. Norman's membership page currently lists an annual family pass at $480, an annual individual pass at $240, a monthly family pass at $40 and a monthly individual pass at $20. Those are Norman's prices for Norman's building, pools included. Yukon will set its own.
Who Pays for It Changes Who Runs It
Norman's center is a city recreation building at heart. Norman voters approved the NORMAN FORWARD half-cent sales tax in 2015 with 72% in favor. That tax supplied $22.5 million of a project budget of nearly $36 million. The Trae Young Family Foundation gave $4 million, and Norman Regional put $6.7 million into NMotion. Norman's Parks and Recreation Department runs the athletic side.
Yukon's version starts out private. Developer Michael Carnuccio of Patriot Land Company bought the land in November 2022 with partner Heath Kufahl, financed through Citizens Bank of Edmond. The Journal Record reports that the athletic center itself is funded through Rayford Young and the family foundation. Trinity Builds, owned by Yukon High graduate and fourth-generation Yukon resident Bryce Johnson, is doing the construction.
The public money comes in through a tax increment financing district that the Yukon City Council approved 5 to 0 on April 30, 2026. OKC FOX reported that the plan sends 75% of the new tax revenue to the project for five years, then 50% for the next 20, plus all of the hotel tax, on a project priced at more than $62 million. The plan's cost schedule puts $30 million toward the youth sports facility.
A council exchange at that same meeting got less attention. A resident asked who would run the building over the long term if the city ever took ownership. According to the meeting minutes, Mayor Pillmore answered that if and when the City takes ownership, Yukon Parks and Recreation would operate the facility. So a building that opens as a private tournament venue could one day work more like Norman's. No date or trigger for that is set.
What the Other Acres Are For
The gym and its parking garage take up only part of the site. The Miller Crossing website lists retail, dining, a hotel and medical offices, each still marked "Coming Soon" with no tenants named.
The TIF plan shows what the city hopes to land. It sets aside $10 million in incentives, paid back later as tax rebates, for businesses that add amenities. The examples it names are a full-service hotel, high-end dining and casual sit-down restaurants with table service. Those are targets, and no brand has been announced for any of them.
The location shapes the retail plan as well. Carnuccio told the Journal Record that Yukon High upperclassmen can leave campus for lunch but have few choices within walking distance. He said the shops and restaurants are meant to serve students and the wider community. Cockrill said the district was designed to stay busy all day and into the evening.
The tournament gym, the hotel target and the hotel-tax capture all point to the same funding model, where out-of-town teams play, stay over and eat nearby. That's also why the next piece matters so much to anyone who drives Yukon Parkway on a school morning.
The Intersection Is the Undecided Part
The draft project plan includes $1.225 million for street work to handle the "heavy traffic flows generated by the Project." The list for Old Highway 4 and Yukon Parkway includes:
- Intersection improvements and a traffic signal, with radar detection and a railroad switch
- Widening about a quarter mile of Old Highway 4 to four lanes
- A deceleration lane
- New striping, signage and related work
That's a list of work the TIF is allowed to pay for. It isn't a construction schedule. At the April 30 hearing, a resident asked about widening the road. Mayor Pillmore said traffic improvements hadn't been discussed at that stage and would likely come in a future phase. OKC FOX reported that other speakers raised road capacity and teenage drivers from the high school. A tournament weekend and a school-day lunch rush put pressure on the same corner at different hours. How fast that signal and the widening arrive will decide what living near this project feels like.
A Calendar With Mostly Blank Squares
As of late October 2026, here's what's set and what isn't:
- Groundbreaking: Sept. 4, 2026
- Construction estimate: about two years for the athletic center and the parking garage, according to the Foundation
- Official opening date: not announced, as KOCO reported at the groundbreaking
- Tenants, hotel brand, membership prices: none published
- Road work at Old Highway 4: in the plan, with no schedule announced
Two years from a September 2026 groundbreaking puts the gym somewhere around fall 2028, if the estimate holds. Trae Young, who grew up in Norman, told the crowd, "I drove up here to play in Yukon all the time in high school," and said he plans to "pop in every now and then to see the kids." Rayford Young told KOCO, "we consider Yukon another piece of our home."
Until then, the clearest sign of progress will be the corner of Old Highway 4 and Yukon Parkway. If crews show up there with signal poles before the gym walls go up, the city has moved the road work from "future phase" to the current one.
If you live near Yukon Parkway and you're wondering what Miller Crossing means for your street or your home's value, we're happy to talk it through over coffee, with no sales pitch. The House Collective Group keeps an eye on west-side projects like this one so you don't have to dig through council packets yourself. Let's Connect.
