The long-discussed City/School District joint-use gymnasium will go into construction next month with a target of opening at Dana Middle School in November, 2010.
The open green field behind the Dana Middle School parking lot on First Avenue (north of Camino Real) will be home to a new gymnasium for use by the school district and the City of Arcadia when it opens in November 2010.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at Dana (see official invitation below). The building will be situated on the east side of the school property in the open area to the north of the school parking lot on First Ave.
The state is putting up about 50% of the funding for the gym, or up to $1.5 million, with the City putting up about 25% and the Arcadia Unified School District responsible for the remaining 25% and acting as the primary agency for the project. The joint-use concept is a requirement in order to be eligible for the state funding grant, for which the City and School District jointly applied well before the current budget challenges.
Once the location of a long-abandoned "Project Adventure" climbing apparatus, the open and mostly unused area will be the site of a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 5 for a new joint-use gymnasium.
The school district will have first dibs on the gym during school hours (weekdays from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.) and the City gets priority scheduling on weeknights (5 p.m. – 10 p.m.), weekends, and summertime.
Projections show that additional parking is not necessary and therefore has not been included.
The project is out to bid with a bid opening scheduled for October 29, with construction starting in December and continuing for one year.
Official invitation to groundbreaking ceremony follows:
