Saturday, January 21, 2012
GREENFORD
The South Range Board of Education has approved contracts to local companies to build a 12,000-square-foot athletic facility to house locker rooms and weight rooms.
The board awarded contracts of $496,318 to Witmer Inc. for general contracting, $200,500 to York Mahoning Mechanical to install a heating and cooling system, $144,000 to Ellyson Plumbing and $182,470 to Graft Electric, said Superintendent Dennis Dunham.
The locker rooms will serve varsity and junior varsity football and soccer teams, and the equipment in the weight room will be available to physical education classes, as well as athletic teams, Dunham said.
The funds are left over from construction of the new K-12 complex on state Route 46, he said.
The new building will be at the all-weather track, just south of the K-12 complex, and should be completed July 1, Dunham said.
Athletic Director Wayne Allegretto said the permanent locker room will be a big improvement from the portable trailers used this fall.
“The weight room was basically part of the farm house on the street across from the K-12 building. It is small building that we had to fix up. It was obviously inadequate on all accounts,” Allegretto said.
Inside the track is a competition field, but no stadium structure surrounds it. Football and soccer games will continue to be played at the North Lima stadium near the old high school.
The stadium would be “the final phase of the project,” but Allegretto said he doesn’t know when that would be undertaken. He said the new training and locker facility shows “we’re moving along.”
“It will be great for our athletic programs and phys- ed programs. We are really excited and very fortunate,” Allegretto said.