Kaskaskia College President George Evans says after a lot of research the board has directed him to pursue construction of a new gym while keeping the present gym facility.
Evans sees a number of advantages.
“We will keep the old gym and use it for a practice facility which will herd a lot of favor for from coaches and members of the public. We will still have to maintain it but the roof is not that old in that area, it will be a secondary gym that will provide relief to the entire institution when it comes to our practices. But it can also be utilized by the public for club or intermural sports for the institution.”
Evans says the change will allow for all of the available money to be spent on the new facility, instead of $1.5-million on asbestos abatement and demolition of the current gym.
“I think we are one of the only community college south of I-80 that doesn’t have a secondary or practice facility. It gives us a wide variety of possibilities. Number one it provides relief to our athletic programs because when you have several division 1 programs like we do, it becomes very much an issue trying to schedule that time.”
Evans says having two gyms would also allow for more community activities to be held such as the career fairs. The new plan would also prevent a year where the college teams that play in the gym would have to be relocated off campus for their games and practices.
Evans notes the new gym that would have seating for an addition 300 people or a total of around 1,900 would be utilized for the major events such as graduation.
Evans says they are now looking at constructing the new gym to the southeast of the present gym with a connection between the two. If all goes well, groundbreaking for the new gym would take place after graduation ceremonies in May of next year. Construction is expected to take a year to complete.
Plans of what the new gym addition at Kaskaskia College will contain.
