PORTAGE, MI --

Anyone who has been stymied in the past by the men's and women's locker rooms for the pool will welcome the

new full access locker room, which offers complete privacy for showers and a roomy area for changing clothes, also in privacy.

The new locker room opened this week to enthusiastic response, said Steve Springsdorf, CEO of the YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo.

The new design is ideal for dads and and daughters, mothers and sons, kids in wheelchairs, transgender folks-- anyone for whom a conventional mass gender-specific shower area can present challenges, he said.

In addition to two unisex restrooms, the locker room features nine shower-changing areas, all compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

The new area comes in addition to the traditional men's and women's locker rooms, and may be used by anyone who opts to use it, he said. "Men, women, seniors, families -- it allows complete privacy," he said. The new space has eliminated any question about transgender use, too, he said.

"It really is full access," he said. "A young man came in wheelchair yesterday, and said he had been counting down the days until it was open.

"This enables more people to get into an aquatics program."

The $700,000 addition was made possible by donors to the YMCA's capital improvement campaign "Building for Generations," Springsdorf said.

Local companies TowerPinkster designed the addition and AVB Inc. built it, he said.

Rosemary Parker is a reporter for MLive. Contact her at rparker3@mlive.com.