Fresh off winning a design award for its Fort Hill Activity Center last week, the Naperville Park District will be presented another accolade for the recreation complex Friday.
The Illinois Park and Recreation Association will name the building its Outstanding Facility & Parks Award Overall Winner at an industry conference this weekend in Chicago.
The Fox Valley branch of the American Public Works Association last week selected the Fort Hill Activity Center as the Public Works Project of the Year in one of its award categories.
At the park board meeting last Thursday, President Mike Reilly said the honors affirm the hard work put into creating Fort Hill.
“I thought to myself, as a resident of the Naperville Park District, why should we care about these awards?” he said. “I conclude that receiving awards like these has value to me as a resident and a taxpayer. The two awards have different criteria but both speak to excellence, providing third-party verification of the work our professional staff does on an ongoing basis.”
On Friday, Reilly and other officials will accept the award during the annual state conference of recreation professionals co-sponsored by the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and the Illinois Association of Park Districts.
According to award committee chairwoman, Erika Young, 19 park districts submitted entries for consideration.
“This was the first year where we decided we want to single out an overall winner for all of the entries regardless of whether they were parks or facilities and regardless of division,” Young said. “(The Fort Hill Activity Center) is absolutely gorgeous. Out of 100, they received 99.26 points. They really knocked it out of the park.”
Young said judges considered various criteria, including aesthetic choices, sustainability features, creative use of materials, accessibility for the disabled, community input to the design process and overall impact on the community.
Located at Fort Hill Drive and Quincy Avenue, the 79,575-square-foot building opened in August 2016. Built at a cost of $24,095,709, the project was completed $24,291 under budget.
The facility was designed by Williams Architects, of Itasca, with Hitchcock Design Group providing landscape design and recommendations for entrance location and building orientation.
In a statement, park district Executive Director Ray McGury said: “We have heard much positive feedback from our users about the beauty, functionality and impact of this building. We are grateful that with support from Naperville taxpayers, we were able to design and construct this facility that benefits our community and also serves as a model for other park districts across the state.”
Among the complex’s amenities are four basketball courts, a large gymnastics room, four multipurpose spaces, three fitness studios, weight training and cardio equipment, an indoor playground, an indoor track, locker rooms and an in-house cafe.
On the outside, the building features solar panels and permeable pavers for sustainability.
Reilly said he was looking forward to receiving the industry award this week.
“It’s special when an independent professional body reviews your work and judges it best in class,” he said. “That’s why awards like these should be shared with our residents.”
For more information, go to www.napervilleparks.org.
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Gary Gibula is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.