The new multi-purpose athletic facility at Southeastern Local Schools will be located on the Miami View School campus, between the parking area and the boys’ baseball field.
(Posted Feb. 28, 2019)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
The wheels are in motion for construction of a multi-purpose athletic facility at Southeastern Local Schools.
On Feb. 19, the school board awarded the construction contract to Kapp Construction of Springfield. The estimated cost of the project was $1,963,000. Kapp’s bid came in well below the estimate at $1,586,550. The school district plans to finance the project. No tax levies or bonds are planned.
The 15,200 square-foot steel building will be located on the Miami View School campus, between the parking area and the boys’ baseball field.
The floor plan of the multi-purpose facility includes a full-size gymnasium (front, left), a weight room (front, right), a wrestling room (back, right), and locker rooms, a storage area, and a training room (back).
According to Michael Huff of Levin Porter Architects, completion of architectural drawings, acquisition of permits, pouring of foundations and fabrication of the steel components will take place between March and June. The building will go up between July and September, followed by interior work. The schedule calls for an overall completion date of January 2020.
Scott Wells, project manager with Kapp Construction, said the company’s goal is to finish the building earlier than that, possibly by Christmas. The timing depends, in part, on the availability of steel. Delivery of those materials will determine the back half of the timeline, he said.
The building will house an 8,300 square-foot gymnasium, a wrestling room with space for a 40×40-foot mat, a weight room, locker rooms, training room, storage area, and office space.
The gym will feature a regulation basketball court that doubles as a volleyball court, surrounded by a two-lane walking track. The court also can be used as two side basketball courts or two side volleyball courts.
The multi-purpose athletic facility will include a regulation size basketball court that also can be used as a volleyball court. A two-lane walking track will be marked off around the court.
The new building will fill a variety of needs for the district, said Superintendent David Shea. One of those is the need for more gym space for all grade levels. Shea emphasized that the facility will be used for practices only. No official school games will take place there. The space also will come in handy when bad weather forces the district’s younger students inside for recess.
“We don’t have a proper wrestling room right now. The new building will take care of that,” Shea added. Currently, the wrest-ling program uses a former track storage facility. Shea also said the district needs a larger weight training room.
The new facility will be helpful to the community at large, as well. Several youth sports leagues use the school facilities for games and practices. They often have to wait until the school teams are finished to get gym time. With the extra gym space in the new building, those teams should be able to get in games and practices at earlier times, Shea said.
Additionally, if volunteer oversight is secured and scheduling works out, the district could open the walking lanes around the new facility’s gym to area residents who want an indoor option for walking.
