A worker installs pipes for a future restroom while contractors talk in the background at Star International Academy’s new athletic venue, which features a synthetic field. School officials expect construction to wrap up in November.
By J. PATRICK PEPPER
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Construction is humming along on a new athletic venue at Star International Academy in the city’s north end and should be complete by November, school officials said this week.
The charter school, which puts an emphasis on intercultural learning, began construction on a synthetic grass field this summer and now is reaching the final stages of building. Already complete are the field itself, a surrounding asphalt track, a new scoreboard for football and one for baseball and softball.
Also finished are grandstand seating for about 1,000 people and a press box. Still to be built are a restroom building and a concession stand.
When construction wraps, it finally will give Star athletic teams a home field after years of sharing facilities with other schools and districts.
“We’re very excited to start using the new facilities. We can’t wait,” said school Chief Executive Officer and Supt. Nawal Hamadeh.
He said the school’s football, baseball, softball and soccer teams eventually would use the field for competitions, and the track team will use the freshly paved path on the perimeter likewise. The field, which is behind Caroline Kennedy Library near the municipal campus on Hass, also will be used for gym classes, Hamadeh said.
He wasn’t certain about the total cost of the work, but similar projects at area schools have cost between $1 million and $1.5 million. Instead of grass, the field is composed of plastic fibers laid over a bed of shredded rubber to provide cushioning.