Fully funded initiative means school remains debt free.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Timothy Christian Schools $16 million new middle school and competition arena project continues to march toward the finish line.
Timothy Christian Superintendent Matt Davidson told the Independent late last week that the project, fully funded through contributions and under its $16 million budget, is “slightly ahead of schedule.”
“I would say middle to late September we will have the grand opening,” he said. “We’re slightly under budget because of great management on the project. We’re ahead of schedule, slightly under budget and it’s fully funded. We are 3-for-3.”
Davidson lauded the efforts that were made in fundraising for the project. “It went really well,” he said. “We had a great community effort. We had somewhere in the ballpark of 650 contributions. That ranges from students giving small amounts up to a lead gift of several million dollars and everything between.”
Scuttlebutt from those who have been inside the facilities has been overwhelmingly positive, Davidson said.
“The comments we are getting is it looks amazing,” he said. “We’ve had coaches and staff and alumni inside there and they see the overall venue with the gym, the locker room and the display technology in the lobby. We have the skybox and skywalk. We feel it’s the top high-school venue anywhere. You’ll find bigger gyms, but when you look at the overall venue we have here, this is as good as it gets. We put in a great sound system. We had a 4K resolution flat-screen TV donated so when you go get a bag of popcorn you’ll be able to watch the game live-streamed in that 4K resolution in the lobby.”
Davidson said Timothy Christian athletic director Jack LeGrand’s phone has been getting a workout.
“Jack’s phone has been ringing off the hook from people looking for rental opportunities,” he said. “Some photos of the gym have leaked on social media, which is fine. There is some good buzz out there.”
Davidson said the bleachers and scoreboard were slated for installation this week. The gym floor is already installed.
Davidson added the new middle-school building is equally impressive. “The junior-high wing is close to being done,” he said. “We’re waiting on some furniture. I took one of our retired teachers in there and they got choked up. It’s going to be a great learning environment for our seventh- and eighth-graders. When I give tours I have to drag people away because they stay in one spot gazing at a magnificent building.”
Davidson explained the current plan is for this year’s seventh- and eighth-graders to begin the school year in the current middle-school wing and then move into the new digs sometime in September.
“That has been the plan all along,” he said. “Once we get our occupancy permit we will move into the new building the following Monday. Our faculty and students are antsy to get in there.”
Davidson also gave thanks to the various constituents involved in the project, starting with the city of Elmhurst.
“The city has been fantastic to work with,” he said. “These are good people who have shown great leadership. We’ve had great cooperation with the city.”
Davidson also praised the work of ECI out of Hillside (the general contractor on the project), V3 Companies (engineer of record out of Woodridge) and AMDG Architects out of Grand Rapids, Mich. (architect on the project), as well as Buikema Law Group out of Hinsdale.
“These professional groups have been with us from the very beginning. This is our first string,” said Davidson. “They have been sensational and amazing. Those four groups were part of this at the beginning when all this was just a dream. They have been with us every step of the way.”
Davidson said the middle-school space will provide an innovative and collaborative learning experience for students. “There is great open space and common areas for plenty of collaboration,” he said. “First and foremost, this is a great educational space.”
Davidson noted the school (which encompasses a preschool/grade school, middle school and high school on the same Butterfield Road campus, continues to operate debt free. The school’s endowment stands at north of $4 million.
“I would like to say a special thank you to everybody who participated,” he said. “That goes from the students who gave us handfuls of cash to the lead gifts that were sizeable. This was a real community effort. The community rallied to get this across the finish line. It’s amazing.”
Davidson added the school’s bus transportation fleet will remain offsite and the school has put in bids to host post-season Illinois High School Association events in its new arena.
The arena’s official opening night will be Friday, Dec. 1 for a Pack the Place promotion with the boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams hosting longtime rival Chicago Christian.
“It’s a good rivalry and good competition,” said Davidson.
