Sports Plaza construction begins, planned to be completed by June

The idea of building a plaza to furnish the entrance of the football field has long been a dream and one that is now being fulfilled.

After two years of completing architectural drawings and finalizing planning for the project, construction for the school’s new Sports Plaza officially began on Feb. 10. A large donation helped to move the plan forward as the SHS Foundation hopes to improve the facilities at the school.

After installing lights a decade years ago on Benny Pierce Field so that night sports games could be played on campus rather than at Los Gatos’s Helm Field, talk of remodeling the area around the turf started. Now, the SHS Foundation’s fundraising is turning this into a reality.

As a part of the Red Pride Campaign, the Sports Plaza is the most expensive of several projects in renovating the school’s sports facilities, carrying an estimated $1.325 million price tag, though principal Paul Robinson believes it will be around $1.5 million when the project is finished. As of early March, the fundraising necessary for the plaza was just shy of $650,000.

The completed plaza will include new bathrooms to replace the ones that have been found to be inadequate, a more attractive building and a snack bar, which would facilitate selling food at events.

According to assistant principal Kevin Mount, it will also make preparations for football games and other events easier.

Robinson hopes that the new Sports Plaza will not only enhance the appearance of the current entrance but also  become a source of pride in that “our community built it for us.”

Because the entirety of the project has been funded by private donations rather than from district funds, the new Sports Plaza will also thank donors who donate over $500 by engraving their names in the bricks of the walkway.

“We’ll be able to recognize a number of people that have been very generous to our school over the years,” Robinson said. “[It will] honor the hard work of our community.”

According to Robinson, the ongoing fundraising has been mostly successful. Yet, this ambitious plan does not come without problems, some of which are beyond the school’s control.

“Recently we’ve run into an issue with a large pledge that hasn’t been realized yet,” Robinson said.

Mount said that the district has given the OK to start building, and organizers say fundraising will help pay for the final construction cost. Fundraising is not only going to the Sports Plaza but also to the second phase of the Red Pride Campaign.

The construction has created an inconvenience in the parking lot because of the one closed exit and fewer parking spaces. While this initially caused traffic and parking issues, the school quickly cleared up the worst issues within a few days.

Other issues such as rain may be more problematic, since they could affect how long the construction process takes. As of late February, the rain has not affected the construction much, but Robinson said it could become a bigger factor as the project continues.

Robinson hopes that construction will be finished by graduation so that the current seniors can use it. The current timeline expects the plaza to be finished around June with graduation set to occur on June 5.

According to Mount, it’s a “pretty tight timeline.”

Mount said that even if the inside of the new building isn’t completely finished, the outside should be ready for use, so it would not affect graduation.

Regardless of when the project does finish, Robinson said the new Sports Plaza will “enhance the entrance to our stadium and the events we host.”