HUNTLEY – The District 158 school board continues to put the pieces into place for Huntley High School’s $12 million expansion plan after members recently met a construction manager for the planned athletic fields renovation.
The renovation that would add synthetic football turf, more stadium seating and a built-in irrigation system for the school’s baseball and soccer fields has been the first “to-do” item on the district’s expansion plan that administrators unveiled last month.
Representatives from Lamp Inc. in Elgin met with the board late last week to explain how they plan to oversee the athletic field construction. The company also will work with architects from Wold, a Palatine company selected in late January to design the broader expansion plan.
“We are happy with how the planning is going right now,” board President Don Drzal said. “I think everybody is excited to see something happen.”
Construction on the outside facilities should begin in the early summer and be complete in by the start of the school year – and football season – in August.
Lamp Inc. will be involved with every aspect of the project, from initial design to arranging the construction Dumpsters.
Board members will vote to select Lamp as construction manager during their Thursday meeting. The measure is expected to be approved because members didn’t have objections at last week’s meeting, Drzal said.
The field renovations are part of a $12 million plan to expand the high school and better equip the building to house the 3,000 students projected by 2019.
Originally built in the mid-1990s, the building started as a combination middle and high school before undergoing minor renovations to accommodate the 2,450 Huntley students now in high school.
The expansion will add space in the hallways, classrooms and common areas for the growing student population and transform the school to meet 21st century technology demands.
District administrators want to renovate the athletic fields first because the outdoor venues have gone 14 years without a major makeover.
After Thursday’s vote is official, Lamp Inc. and the Wold architects will ramp up the athletic renovation designs and submit cost estimates on the individual project to the board.
A $39 million state construction grant is covering the entire $12 million expansion plan, which includes outdoor renovations and building improvements.
“I think the outdoor field is something that could take place right away, where as the design and contracting for the building has a longer time line,” Drzal said. “Everything has an order of events to them.”
