New Trier Board Approves New Bleachers, Tennis Courts, Press Box

NORTHFIELD, IL — The New Trier High School District 203 Board of Education voted to approve more than $8 million in facilities improvements for 2018, including upgrades to the athletic facilities at its Northfield campus. Pioneer Press reported the board voted 4-1 with two absences at its meeting Monday. Planned construction projects for next year now include six new tennis courts, a bleacher expansion, a new press box, an improved parking lot, a new building for bathrooms and a concession stand at the south end of the stadium to replace the rented portable toilets.

The district intends to add 500 more seats in the bleachers for home fans, raising the capacity to 2,000. Administrators had suggested possible postponement of the bleacher expansion, but after discussions with board members, they recommended going forward with the project.

"The potential benefits of having hundreds more of our students able to see games and participate directly in the energy and camaraderie of the student section outweighs the additional cost of adding the bleachers," according to a memo to the board from Assistant Superintendent Chris Johnson. The estimated cost is $152,200, according to the district.

District administrators say the upgrade would bring New Trier closer in line with its fellow competitors in the Central Suburban League. After the expansion, the capacity of the stands for home fans would increase to 50 percent of the study body. The district included a table of stadium seating capacity for other schools in the league.

The estimated price tag for the press box was reduced to $225,250 from board's last meeting. The board approved that contract unanimously Monday as part of the consent agenda, Pioneer Press reported.

As for the tennis courts, the district said it can save money by combining the resurfacing of the west parking lot at the Northfield campus with nearby tennis courts – also due for resurfacing. The upgrade would allow for some students who currently play tennis off-side to utilize courts on campus and "reduce pressure" on the tennis courts at Winnetka. Those two projects were estimated to cost more than $3.5 million, according to an estimate presented to the board last month. The price tag of the new building for restrooms and concessions was placed just over $1.5 million.

In addition to improvements to the sports facilities at New Trier's west campus, the Winnetka campus will be getting an upgrade to its second floor offices. The remodel is intended to modernize the 1950s-built offices, "facilitating collaboration...and allowing for increased efficiency," according to Johnson. Those office upgrades were estimated to cost $5.8 million.

Potential cost overruns on the bleacher project would be covered out of the athletic tournament account, Johnson told the board. Extra costs associated with the tennis court project would be picked up by the Theodore Eckert Foundation, which pledged at least $1 million to the project.

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