During a regular D209 meeting on July 14, the team of architects and contractors working on a series of Facilities Master Plan construction projects in the district presented updates on those projects to the school board.
Along with some interior renovations, crews are installing a newly paved and marked parking lot at Proviso West.
Proviso Math and Science Academy is also due for a major exterior renovations, including “reconfiguring the parking lot and rerouting traffic onsite to alleviate congestion and create a safer environment, creating “fenced-off outdoor sports fields for physical education and extra-curricular use, improving “stormwater management through a significant reduction of impermeable surfaces on-site,” and landscaping, as the Review reported on June 16.
The most significant project report during the July 14 meeting was associated with significant construction at Proviso East, where crews are working to install a storm trap designed to retain rainwater beneath the northeast athletic fields and a new culinary lab inside the building.
Construction on a new main auto shop, which will be built on the first floor of Memorial Hall, will start in the fall. Once the auto shop is finished, work on the football stadium will begin. The stadium is scheduled to be completed by October 2021.
Michael Dolter, with Perkins and Will, the architectural firm hired to facilitate the construction project, said that work on the stadium could start “the first thing next year, as soon as auto shop is brought online.”
Workers will move the existing stadium further east to allow for an improved running track, they’ll install artificial turf on the football field and a large Pirate logo will be painted in the middle of the field. In addition, a separate building for concessions will be built near the stadium.
