Iowa Christian Academy to Build Athletic Facility at Jordan Park Camp

Officials with will kick off a $2.8 million capital campaign next week for an athletic facility to be built at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Fuller Road, administrator Brenda Hillman told the Des Moines Register.

The school has joined with Walnut Creek Community Church to build the new 24,600-square-foot facility at the church’s Jordan Park Camp. Walnut Creek purchased the 33-acre campground about three years ago.

“One of our most compelling needs right now is for a place to house our athletic programs,” Hillman told the paper. “We have no practicable athletic facilities on site.”

Iowa Christian Academy, 2501 Vine St., has grown to nearly 260 students. About 85 percent of the school’s nearly 120 seventh- through 12th-grade students participate in athletics, Hillman said.

And others participate in band and fine arts activities that also will be housed at the new facility, the Register said.

The new building will have a gym, fitness area and second-story jogging track. Officials hope to break ground on the facility in the spring and construction should take between six and 12 months.

Iowa Christian Academy will rent the land from Walnut Creek for less than a dollar annually, the newspaper reported, and the church will be able to use the building for its own functions.