With construction fully underway for Oak Lawn High School’s athletic fieldhouse, district leaders say they are on target to complete the $40 million facility by fall 2026.
Construction began March 24 on the fieldhouse, that will centralize athletic activities on the south side of the campus.
Workers are laying down the structure’s foundation in the former parking lot in front of the the school’s performing arts center, with school community members directed to park on the north side of the school where a lot was recently completed.
Oak Lawn District 299 Superintendent Shahe Bagdasarian said those passing by the high school on the busy West 95th Street should see walls up by end of June.
Plans for transforming the school’s gyms on the north side of the building into an expansion of career and technical education offerings are also shaping up.
“We have a CTE area in the school, but we’re looking to move that and expand a little bit more and in that area,” Bagdasarian said.
Bagdasarian said executing plans for career and technical education expansion is still two to three years away, but conversations are underway. He said he would love to see a business incubator program added to allow students to not only learn entrepreneurship, but put that learning into practice.
“They’re creating a product or service to solve a problem and actually go through the steps and process of doing that,” Bagdasarian said.
The new facility also will include a pool and locker rooms, four basketball courts, badminton and volleyball courts, weight and wrestling rooms, and a fitness space.
It will also include a 200-meter indoor track looped around the perimeter of the building, which Athletic Director Jeremey Cryan said Monday he is particularly excited about.
“I used to be a track and field coach, and it was months in the hallways and trying to find any space you can to do things,” Cryan said. “Having this indoor track facility for them is going to be exciting.”
Cryan said the building will make it easier for more students to participate in athletics. He said the school debuted its female wrestling team this year and is adding a female flag football team next fall.
“We’ve been increasing the number of kids participating in sports and adding lower levels to different sports,” Cryan said. “So that space is going to go a long way to help that out too.”
Offices for the physical education as well as Cryan’s office will be moved to the new space.
Like Bagdasarian, Cryan emphasized the fieldhouse will create space for students beyond athletes.
“Obviously, in the short term, it’s benefiting our PE and our athletic programs, with down the road, expanding opportunities for curricular areas too,” Cryan said. “So it’s really helping everybody.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
