Where a small shed stands, locker rooms will go. A tree a few steps north? That will be the site of a concession stand. Not far from there will be the main entrance to the Bartlett High School activity complex.
George Kantzavelos is looking into the future as he discussed the stadium site Thursday. The two-decades-old dream for Bartlett High School and its community is closer to being a reality.
“I knew we would get here one day,” said Kantzavelos, a past chairman of the high school boosters and main organizer behind the activity complex project.
Adults and teenagers gathered just outside Bartlett High’s football and track and field facilities for the unofficial start of the complex project. By next summer, the site should resemble a high school athletics stadium, with bleachers, lights and a press box.
“No more Streamwood,” shouted Principal Mike Demovsky to those who had gathered outside, referring to their “home” field at Streamwood High School, several miles north up Route 59.
Earlier this week, U46 board members unanimously approved a $1.6 million bid to complete the first phase of the project — bleachers, press box, lights and a retention pond.
Board member Sue Kerr, who has lived in Bartlett since 1993, said it has long been a topic of discussion for Bartlett residents, including her, as her children attended both Bartlett and South Elgin high schools, and South Elgin moved forward on its athletic facilities.
Jeff Bral has been working at Bartlett High School for most of its 20 years, the last nine as athletic director. He said for years groups attempted to get the stadium built, but when Kantzavelos took the lead in 2011, a consistent message and goal took shape.
Donations started coming in, making it easier for the district to move forward with plans. Notable donors this summer were Bartlett-based Greco Foods and Cheese Merchants of America, who gave a combined $500,000.
Bral said Bartlett got a taste of what Friday nights could be like at the field last fall when the school hosted its first homecoming game. It was a challenge, he said, as they had to accommodate 1,500 to 2,000 people, rent out temporary seating and figure out the marching band’s position in all the festivities, among other concerns.
When recalling the events of the 2016 homecoming game, Bral said, “the spirit, the climate — beautiful like today — there was a lot of excitement. We were finally getting an idea of what it could all look like for us (in the near future).”
One student in attendance in 2016 was Casey Pearce, the district’s student representative on the school board. The Bartlett senior said the crowd could feel the difference, in the form of a home-field energy. During Monday’s board meeting, she said she was excited for future Bartlett students, such as her younger sister.
“Winning your homecoming game at your actual home is like nothing else,” she said Thursday.
Construction is expected to begin next week, Kantzavelos said. The work is expected to be completed next summer. While phases two and three of the project are not yet confirmed or approved by the board — phases that could get the stadium visitor bleachers, concessions, a main entrance — he said it could take a couple of years to assemble 100 percent of the funding needed for the construction phases.
“We don’t want to stall the work, we want to keep momentum going,” he said.
