Usually a building is saved because it is historic, but Greenwood city officials want to save the former middle school’s gymnasium because it’s not.
The city plans to demolish the 68-year-old school building in the heart of the city this winter. But they have big plans for the attached gymnasium, which was built about 30 years ago.
Mayor Mark Myers said he hopes to see it become an extension of the city’s recently renovated community center a few blocks away on Surina Way.
“The Fieldhouse,” as it is being called, would house “outdoor activities inside,” Myers said, such as an elevated running track, pickle ball court and two basketball courts. It would be a place for residents to stay active during the winter months and inclement weather.
The city purchased the former middle school from the Greenwood Community School Corp. in 2015 for $1 million. Until this summer, it was used as police headquarters while their facility underwent renovations.
Redevelopment of the 16-acre middle school property is part of the mayor’s years-long $24.5 million plan to turn downtown Greenwood into a place to live and play. His hope the area will eventually be home to more than 580 apartments and townhouses, 75,000 square feet of retail shops, restaurants and office space, 9.9 acres of open green space and include 1.9 miles of new or renovated streets.
“We’re designing this now for the new residents in those apartments and townhouses we hope to build in that middle school area,” Myers said.
Ideally, he would like to see all of that development take place in the next five years.
“We want to make downtown a healthier, more walkable area,” he said.
The city has been working closely with Indianapolis-based developers for about six months on demolition of the old middle school and design of the fieldhouse, which they will then pitch to the redevelopment commission for funding approval some time next year.
Now that the city has confirmed the gym can be successfully separated from the rest of the building, demolition is expected to begin in the next couple months, Capital Projects Manager Kevin Steinmetz said. City staff recently asked the redevelopment commission for approval to pursue demolition bids. A final vote on that is expected at the commission’s next meeting Oct. 9.
Steinmetz expects demolition will take about three months and cost about $1.1 million, he said. To save what they can of the building and its utilities, demolition will have to be extremely strategic, he said.
“It will be demolished in a way that is more complicated, but certainly worth it,” Steinmetz said.
Demolition is not expected to affect area residents or commuters, he said.
Steinmetz is not sure yet how much renovating the fieldhouse will cost, but expects it will be millions of dollars, he said.
“It will become part of a larger parks system that includes everything from the new community center to this fieldhouse, and that is part of a greater push to be a leader in the state for parks and recreation amenities,” Steinmetz said.
“We are not just competing locally to attract more families. We’re competing in Indiana and around the country. So having a really robust Parks and Recreation Department is something that we think provides us with a competitive advantage.”
Greenwood’s Parks and Recreation Department would manage the fieldhouse once it is renovated. Parks and Recreation Director Rob Taggart is leading planning and design for it. His goal is to make sure it becomes something the community wants and needs, he said.
“We’re definitely going to take the city’s pulse and check the barometer there. But we also need to get some community responses,” Taggart said.
If plans move forward, the parks department would conduct surveys and host community forums to get a better sense of what residents would like to see inside the fieldhouse, he said.
“My hope is that it would give residents of Greenwood an indoor year-round recreational facility,” Taggart said. “It would be looked upon as an extension, but even more so an addition to the services we already offer.”
