By Igor Studenkov | Bugle Staff
nweditor@buglenewspapers.com
@NilesILNews
Plans for new Niles Park District facility at 7847 Caldwell Avenue are slowly but surely taking shape.
For the past few weeks, the park board of commissioners held several special meetings to discuss what the space would look like once completed.
The new Caldwell Recreation Center will have an indoor soccer field, an indoor basketball court, a dance studio and a multipurpose children’s activity room. Some of the details – most notably, plans for the front desk – still have to be worked out.
Executive Director Joe LoVerde told the Bugle that the organization hopes to start construction by summer or fall of this year and complete construction by summer 2017.
The Caldwell Recreation Center will be located in south-central Niles, amid industrial facilities and residences. According to LoVerde, the building went through many uses over the years. It was a tennis club in the 1960s and 1970s. The building was mostly used for storage.
The park district bought the property in 2015 to provide more space for its sports programs. It contracted Wight & Company, a Chicago-based architectural firm, to handle the design.
In her presentation to the board, architect Laura Patterberry explained that the original “L” shaped building would be completely gutted. While the building’s underlying structure is sound, she said the building surfaces and interiors deteriorated to the point that it made more financial sense to replace them completely.
The plan calls for turning the open space on the property into a parking lot with 111 parking stalls. LoVerde said the park district was planning to negotiate with nearby businesses to potentially get some overflow parking during games and events.
A soccer field would occupy most of the south half of the building, while a basketball court would occupy the west section.
A dance studio, activity room and most of the offices would be located in between the two. The entrance and the main lobby would be located at the spot where the building curves, providing easy access to all of its sections.
Patterberry explained that the entrance would have two sets of doors, acting as “an airlock,” so that cold air does not blow into the lobby every time a visitor opens the door during winter months.
Under the plan, the lobby would have two desks – a small desk near the basketball court entrance and a larger, half-circle desk by the east wall. LoVerde suggested putting in a full-circle desk closer to the middle of the lobby.
He argued that it would allow staff to monitor all parts of the lobby while, as well as break up the flow of people heading to different parts of the building. Golf View Recreation Center, which is located further south of Caldwell, has a similar design, he added.
Commissioner Ray Czarnic said he thought the idea might have some merit – though he also said he was in favor of keeping the smaller desk near the basketball courts.
“Let me lay it out to see what it looks like,” said Patterberry.
The plan called for a concessions area in the lobby, directly east of the entrance. However, LoVerde said the park district may go for something simpler.
“We are not even sure yet if want to make the big investment in concessions area or just recess the wall and put in vending machines,” he said. “I don’t think [concession sales] are driven in recreational environments.”
Putting in full-fledged concessions, LoVerde said, could cost as much as $125,000 to instal, and said he wasn’t sure that the revenue the park district would get from sales would justify the expense.
Czarnic added that he thought the demand might be there, especially during games. One staff member suggested that the park district could simply contract a local eatery for those occasions.
Another aspect of the plan that still hasn’t been finalized is what materials will be used for the building’s new exterior.
Patterberry said there were many possible combinations of metal, resins and polycarbonate.
After some discussion, the board decided to look at some of existing structures that use this material.
One thing that is certain, according to Patterberry, Wight will make every effort to hide HVAC systems as much as possible.
LoVerde told the Bugle that, while he was hopeful that the construction would proceed on schedule, there is one hurdle the park district will need to clear.
“We still have to [approve] the bond issue to sell in October,” he said. “We want to be sure, so we have a proper funding.”