School district nearing the goal line on opening of new athletic complex

The new $6.7 million Glenwood Community School District Activities Complex is projected to be completed one day before the Ram football team takes the field for its true home opener on Sept. 20 as part of the school district’s homecoming festivities.

Since rain and flooding issues caused construction delays this spring, the Glenwood Community School District has all along pointed to the Sept. 20 date – homecoming weekend in Glenwood – as the public unveiling of the complex, but as of late July they held out hope for a Sept. 10 “substantial completion.”

With concrete work remaining and the grandstand elevator not completed, that date was pushed to Sept. 19.

“We’re confident we will be ready Sept. 19,” said Glenwood Superintendent Devin Embray.

In July, the Glenwood Board of Education approved a $235,000 change order with the complex’s general contractor, Genesis Contracting Group. The change order reflected a host of increased costs in materials and labor, from additional prep work needed on the football field and track portions of the complex to an “aggressive scheduling” plan to make up ground on the project due to the weather issues.

By early August, Embray said the project had “crawled” nearly back on schedule.
The three-week long FieldTurf installation on the football field wrapped up last week with the last applications of sand and crumb rubber on the synthetic turf. The Glenwood football team held its first practice on the surface Tuesday afternoon.

The Glenwood Community School District’s Board of Education toured the site Monday with Embray. For many on the board it was their first close-up look at the complex.

“I’ve driven by and looked like most people,” said school board president Curt Becker. “It’s in line with what we wanted. It doesn’t have everything we pursued in the beginning, but I think it’s a great facility. It’s something the community can look forward to and have as an outstanding item they can use.

“It’s a great looking facility and something we should be extremely proud of.”
With Glenwood hosting Dallas Center-Grimes for its homecoming football in just nine days, some work remains to be done.

The grandstand and footpaths will continue this week with fencing and finishing work to follow. The asphalt layer of the track circling the field is down with the final layers of crumb rubber granule running surface expected to start going down Sept. 23.

The largest project still remaining is the grandstand elevator. That work is scheduled to be completed Sept. 18, but Embray said he can’t guarantee the elevator will be available for use during the Sept. 20 game.

“There’s a chance that may not get done before homecoming and it will have to be done after,” he said.