Using funding remaining from the construction of the new multi-story gym building on the campus of Los Alamitos High School, officials gathered this week to break ground on a multi-purpose athletic facility that will sport three basketball courts and electronic equipment sufficient to one day facilitate esports as well.
“This event marks the official start of construction for this transformative project, aimed at enhancing our athletic facilities for the benefit of our students, staff, and the entire Los Alamitos Unified community,” announced Dr. Andrew Pulver, Superintendent of Los Al Unified School District.
“Thanks to the unwavering support of our community through the passage of Measure G in 2018, we are beginning the construction of the new gym at LAHS, which is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025,” he added.
Pulver gathered along with the Board of Trustees, school officials and the contractor, Erickson-Hall to symbolically break ground under the arc of two giant earth movers which had been moved into place to form an equipment halo, of sorts, for the event.
In a follow-up interview with ENE, Pulver said that “one of the areas to be to enhanced under Measure G was our athletic facilities,” so he and the board were thrilled that after completion of the Aquatics complex and the multi-story STEM building that there was sufficient funding remaining for this $26 million facility.
“This is going to really enhance the whole school for years,” as well as prepare the school, its students and athletes for the 21st century.
Pulver said the concession stand will serve all sports occurring in the new athletic complex, he said the arts will have another venue for their band, choral, or other music festivals, pep rallies, etc. “And who knows what’s going to happen with esports,” the Superintendent said, noting that the electronic infrastructure of the new facility would support esports competitions.
“One of our big goals was to be able to provide facilities for our students to be able to bring them home so that they can practice here during more reasonable hours,” he said, pointing out that “ many of our kids have to wake up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning just to have court space or stay at the high school pretty late just to compete with different spaces,” he added.
He said the new complex will give Griffins a chance to be able to practice at more reasonable hours. In addition, he said the complex will include a 3,000 square foot indoor outdoor weight room.
Some of the major features include:
• Gymnasium with over 30,000 sq. ft. of space.
• Multi-purpose facility for various sports.
• Retractable bleachers for ±1900 occupants.
• 3,000 sq. ft. indoor/outdoor weight room.
• Concessions to serve track and field and gymnasium.
• 5 team rooms and storage.
• 2 sets of gendered restrooms, 4 single-use restrooms.
• gymnasium and field facilities.
• Sports filming capabilities, AV integration, digital scoring, smartboard display.
• High-efficiency HVAC, compliant plumbing, LED lighting, networkable lighting control.
• Building Management System ADA-compliant design.
C.J. Knowland, Director of Facilities, Maintenance, Operations and Transportation, said having $4 million remaining from the contingency funds of the STEM building allowed the district to fully fund the project.
Voters approved a $100 million bond (Measure G), for the modernization project, which has already been utilized to construct the new Aquatics complex, the STEM building and now, this $26.6 million sports complex/gymnasium.
“We’ve tried to scale this down, but these days, everything is just getting more expensive so we just had to find a way to make this happen,” said Knowland.
“We were able to roll over $4 million in unused contingency from the savings to this, which is really what allowed our budget to make this work that combined with other state grants,” he added.
Some preliminary work on the project has already been done, he said, and the 18-month timeline is expected to have construction complete in 2025.
Knowland, who helped shepherd the construction of the STEM building through COVID, finishing on time and under budget, was named Orange County Central Office Administrator of the Year.
Without unexpected delays, he said, the new athletic complex is expected to open in July of 2025, he said.
“We think this is going to be a fun project,” said Knowland.
