The completion date for Project 2, the new physical education and athletics focused wing located in the southeast corner of the Oak Park and River Forest High School building has been pushed back once again. On Friday Greg Johnson, OPRF superintendent, told staff, students and families that the school’s new swimming pool won’t be open until Nov. 1, a month later than predicted one month ago, and the opening date of the new third floor gym, which is located above the swimming pool, cannot yet be determined. The rest of the new wing is now projected to open Oct. 1, a month later than predicted one month ago when the first delay was announced.
“The revised completion date for all spaces other than the pool and three court gym other than the pool and three court-gym is due largely to ensuring that we are meeting regulatory requirements for critical building systems,” Johnson wrote in a message sent o faculty, staff and families. “In particular, both a fire pump for our sprinkler system and the final inspection of the elevator system are pushing us past our recently communicated Sept. 1 deadline. Our contractor has expressed confidence in making these spaces available by Oct. 1, and if we are able to open them sooner, we certainly will.”
This is the second delay the school has announced. The original hope was to have Project 2 completed before the new school year began on Aug. 25, but at the end of July the school announced that would not happen and said that the pool and gym would open Oct. 1 and the rest of the new wing would open by Sept. 1. But that proved to be too optimistic as new problems came up.
The delay in the opening of the pool means that the OPRF girls swimming team will likely not be able to practice in the pool for the entire season, except for possibly the last two weeks with the state meet scheduled for Nov. 13-14. The swim team will continue practicing at Morton High School. The girls gymnastics team may have to start its season practicing at Tri-Star Gymnastics center which is located in Forest Park if the gym isn’t ready by Nov. 9.
“We expect completion of the pool by Nov. 1,” Johnson wrote. “The date for the gym is yet to be determined.”
The delay in the completion of the pool and the gym was caused by trying to do too much at the same time and condensation from the pool impacted the floor of the new gym. The original plan was to get the pool completed five weeks before the gym located directly above the pool but Johnson wrote that the sequencing was compressed to adjust for schedule challenges and this led to work being done on the gym and pool before the air conditioning was fully operational.
“This compressed schedule has brought some unanticipated challenges,” Johnson wrote.
“During the initial testing of the pool, the extreme humidity we experienced earlier this summer, coupled with humidity from the pool itself, resulted in significant condensation between portions of the gym flooring system directly above it. We needed to investigate to find the solution and this significantly delayed our progress in both spaces. What we have now learned is that these challenges were largely due to the fact that this work preceded the humidity and temperature control systems in the pool being fully operational.”
Physical education classes will continue to be held in locations that have been used during the past two years while demolition and construction was going on.
“These delays have been unexpected and challenging,” Johnson wrote. “But we are managing. I’m extremely grateful to our PE and athletics staff, as well as our students, who over the past two years have shown enormous flexibility in using temporary locations for classes and extracurriculars.”
Project 2 will cost nearly $102 million. Demolition work began in spring of 2024. Officials from Gilbane Construction, which is managing the project, have said that delays have been caused by a number of factors that began right away with having to move a NICOR gas line. Labor shortages and weather have also played a role. Workers have been working six or seven days a week for the last few months to try to get the work done on time but that proved to be impossible.
The ribbon cutting that was scheduled for Oct. 3, delayed from Aug.22, has been postponed again to a date to be determined.