New Eastern fieldhouse nears completion

Jan. 12—GREENTOWN — Come Valentine's Day, Eastern Howard School Corporation should have the keys to its brand-new field house.

That's when Fort Wayne-based contractor Hagerman Group expects to turn over the facility to the school corporation.

The $20 million project — that did not raise taxes — is nearing completion as construction crews lay the flooring inside the field house. There will be three basketball courts plus a three-lane track. The flooring is the same as what's inside Taylor Community School's field house.

"This is a major focus for the next six weeks," said Rob Young, vice president of business development for Hagerman.

Scoreboards are up, and dividers for between each basketball court are hung. Other smaller work, along with flooring, is all that's left.

The field house connects to the high school via the entrance to the swimming pool. There are also entrances on the north side of the facility.

More locker room space and more gym space aim to alleviate two of the biggest issues Eastern faces during the height of its athletic seasons: scheduling and room.

More basketball courts mean lower grade levels don't have to practice in the late evenings. Scheduling multiple practices for multiple teams gets difficult, especially when sports seasons crossover.

Eastern school officials also expect scheduling physical education classes to be easier when the field house is finished. The facility has additional locker room space.

Stairs lead up to the second story of the field house, which features an overlook with bleachers where spectators can take in the action. Turn those bleachers around and they overlook the observation deck, one of the new features of Eastern's swimming pool.

A long-needed renovation to the pool was included in the project. The pool facility was essentially gutted all the way down to the cement. As Superintendent Keith Richie put it, only the hole remained.

New infrastructure was installed, including new HVAC components to improve air quality and filter pool chemicals out of the air.

There's all new tile and a new display board, too. It's the first major upgrade for Eastern's pool in about 50 years.

"We were putting band-aids on it every year," Richie said Tuesday after a school board meeting.

"We were just draining the rainy day fund on little projects (for the pool)," added board president Brian Day.

Richie said the school corporation once considered if the pool's upkeep was worth it, but decided it was given the use it gets from kids during the summer.

Pool renovations were completed in time for the start of swimming season in October.

Ground broke last March on the field house.

The project has remained on schedule throughout construction. There have been no major delays, Young said earlier this week.

"On time, in today's age, is still early," said board member Jordan Buckley.

It's an anomaly at a time where school construction projects are mired in delays, due to supply chains, material shortages and other challenges.

Young and Richie credited an intensive planning process. Materials were ordered well in advance, necessary as many supplies have long lead times.

"That is the key to construction these days," Young said. "We did a lot of preplanning."

Young added that subcontractors are penalized if they do not meet deadlines. Richie said crews worked weekends and during the holiday break to keep the project on schedule.

Hagerman provided monthly updates at school board meetings over the course of construction.

"They're not out there doing it without input from us," Richie said. "We were involved from the very beginning."

The project also includes further development at Eastern's off-campus 40-acre sports complex on the south end of town.

This includes six new tennis courts and a support building for concessions, locker rooms and storage. Finishing touches are ongoing on the support building.

Tennis moves to the off-campus location later this year.

In the future, Eastern plans to build new baseball and softball fields at the athletic complex, moving those activities from the main campus.

That space is eyed for a new school when the times comes.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.