Decked out in red and white hard hats, New Lenox Chamber of Commerce members got a close view of Lincoln-Way High School’s new look last week.
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Three construction projects–an academic wing, an auditorium and a swimming pool–are nearing completion on the Central Campus in New Lenox, Lincoln-Way Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said.
Some areas of the existing building have been remodeled, too. “What we’re getting here is a brand new high school, virtually,” Wyllie said.
“Construction is kind of like a fine orchestra,” according to Stan Jagielski, vice president of Henry Bros. Co., the construction firm managing the work. All the different phases that make up the finished project have to be carefully coordinated, said Jagielski, who served as one of the tour guides.
When completed, the 49,000-square-foot auditorium building will house music and choral rooms as well as the 900-seat stage area, Jagielski said.
At the 38,500-square-foot swimming pool building, workers tiling the sides gathered in the deep end of the pool.
The deep and shallow sides of the 50-yard-long pool will be separated by a movable bulkhead so residents and swimming classes can use it at the same time.
“The pool was designed for community use,” Wyllie said. Like the fieldhouses at each campus, the pool at the Central Campus and the pool under construction at the East Campus in Frankfort will be open to the public from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.
Some parts of the academic wing will be in use next month, when the school’s pupil personnel services moves into new offices there, Jagielski said.
Classrooms, which are positioned to take advantage of outdoor light, will be occupied during the next school year.
“There’s nothing that we’re lacking that we can’t finish fairly quick,” Jagielski said.
The swimming pool will be open for community use June 1, and the new auditorium is slated for completion by Aug. 1, Wyllie said.
A second construction project is under way at the East Campus in Frankfort, where an academic wing and a swimming pool are being built.
The $60 million construction project is turning the junior-senior Central Campus and the freshman-sophomore East Campus into two, separate four-year high schools in 2001 to accommodate a steadily growing enrollment. The student population now numbers more than 4,700 students, Wyllie said.