When the project is complete, the 7.4-acre property site at 2119 Chapel Hill Road will host both the YMCA and a Montessori middle school, officials said.

The announcement relieved the worry of some residents in the Lakewood, who for a year had campaigned to keep the facilities open after reports surfaced that the aging, money-losing YMCA would close.

The buildings and property need extensive repair and renovations, and the operation loses about $400,000 a year.

But residents see the center as a cornerstone of the neighborhood, an economically and racially diverse section of Durham just west of downtown.

"When a big community center closes, it's a disaster for the community," said Chuck Clifton, chairman of the Committee to Save the Lakewood YMCA.

Clifton's group, which has more than 100 members, and students at Lakewood Elementary School have spent the past year pressuring the YMCA to develop a satisfactory solution.

"Our best-case scenario was that the facility would end up in the hands of a public entity," Clifton said.

The YMCA has served residents in the Lakewood area nearly 40 years.

More than 100 students from Lakewood and other nearby schools rely on the center for after-school programs, and more than 300 children attend summer camps there, said Bryan Huffman, executive director of the YMCA's Durham branches.

The county will buy the site, appraised at $2.6 million, for about $250,000, said Ellen Reckhow, chairwoman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners.

Once the renovations are complete, the YMCA will lease about 18,000 square feet there to continue operating afterschool and summer camps. The county will transfer ownership to the Durham Public Schools for the opening of the district's first Montessori middle school.

"It will be a shot in the arm for the neighborhood and provide some much-needed space for the school system," Reckhow said.

The district has two Montessori schools for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade -- at Morehead and George Watts elementary schools.

Parents have implored district officials for several years to create a Montessori middle school for students. School officials hope the school will be ready to open for 300 students in the 2010-11 school year, Superintendent Carl Harris said.

The YMCA has agreed to spend about $850,000 to renovate the inside space that it will lease from the county. During construction, programs will be housed in temporary locations, such as churches. Buses will provide transportation to those sites, said Doug McMillan, CEO of the Triangle Area YMCAs.

One lingering question over the past year has been whether the Lakewood Y's swimming pool would survive any renovation plan.

Not likely, County Manager Mike Ruffin said Monday. It leaks, he said.