HFAddition 2020-06-11 051
Local News

H-F High School on schedule for fall opening of Fine Arts additions

 

According to the latest timetable, the two Fine Arts additions to Homewood-Flossmoor High School will be ready for the start of the 2020-21 school year.

Tom Wagner, operations manager, recently told the District 233 Finance Committee work is continuing on the new music wing and the theater wing. Both are expected to be ready by the third week of August.  

The intention is to move all fine arts programs into one wing of the South Building. Cosgrove Construction of Joliet is the contractor for the $13.98 million project. Construction began in August. Winter weather caused a few delays, but crews managed to get the project back on track.

The fine arts addition at Homewood-Flossmoor High School as it looked on June 11. (Eric Crump/H-F Chronicle)

Two new wings are under construction on the South Building – a black box theater north of the Mall Auditorium and classroom space for orchestra, choir and band students. 

The old music wing will be dismantled and designed for the fine arts classes now in a different area. Wagner said the fine arts area could be done by November. 

The school board also approved a contract for paving around parts of the South Building that are related to the Fine Arts additions. The board awarded that contract May 19 to M&J Paving Co. of Cicero, Illinois, for $605,900. 

Wagner and Lawrence Cook, the district’s business manager, said he and members of DLA Architects, architects on the construction project, were surprised by the low bid. They had set aside more than $1.2 million for the work that includes paving both Circle and Viking Drives. The work will be done in two phases and includes concrete and paving work.

Circle is the roadway from the building’s front entrance on Kedzie Avenue to Viking Drive, the roadway at the north side of the building that goes around the pool and gym area and heads west where it abuts Kedzie at the traffic light. 

“We’re waiting until Circle Drive is (free) of heavy traffic.  All the cranes and heavy delivery trucks will be gone before we complete that side,” Wagner said.

“Viking Drive will be in August because construction traffic won’t have to use Viking Drive — that’s in front of the gym to the light,” Wagner said.

The project also calls for the replacement of the current lights along the roadways with new LED lights and poles.

In addition, Cook told the board the district received a $50,000 state grant for building work. Wagner said that money will pay for a portion of roof replacement on the South Building this summer.

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