TRAVERSE CITY — The Traverse City Area Public Schools board has voted to move forward with the construction of a $17.2 million multi-purpose athletic and extracurricular facility. The After-school Clubhouse and Multi-Purpose Fieldhouse will be located on Carlisle Field near East Middle School.
The 125,000-square-foot project will be funded in part by $10 million from the 2018 Capital Bond Funds. The board reached the decision after several months of discussions regarding the facility’s location and financial sustainability.
The pre-engineered metal building will span more than 125,000 square feet. It is designed to house full competition-sized fields for football, soccer and lacrosse, along with a six-lane 400-meter track and batting cages.
School Board President Scott Newman-Bale described the facility as a versatile space that extends beyond traditional athletics.
“there’s an area there’s a large area with multiple functions. It does have a full size soccer pitch, running track. You can have, batting cages. It can have an indoor basketball court and a lot of other kind of facilities that can be used for a Robotics, really wide ranging music,” Newman-Bale said. The project budget is supported by a mix of public funds and private contributions.
While $10 million comes from the 2018 bond, the district utilized a public-private partnership to bridge the remaining cost. Newman-Bale said this approach was necessary to protect educational resources. “And a lot of the problem was making sure that we’re financially sustainable, that we don’t build a, something that drains funds from the classroom,” Newman-Bale said. “So that took a lot of work. And that’s kind of where the public private partnership came in to really get some donations to make this work.”
Several local organizations provided significant financial support for the construction. Traverse City Tourism donated $1.5 million and the Joseph G. & Helen I. Zimmerman Charitable Trust contributed $900,000. Other donors include Munson Medical with $250,000, East Bay Township with $185,856 and the Traverse City Track Club with $100,000.
Cherryland Electric Cooperative provided in-kind electric donations, lighting rebates and an energy efficiency grant.
Newman-Bale noted that the board is already looking toward future facility improvements across the district. “Wherever you put it, there is going to be challenges. But we are working again on a long term plan. This is part of a big vision on upgrading all of our facilities,” Newman-Bale said. He added that the district is still accepting donations for a second phase, which includes plans to build smaller versions of the facility at each high school.
Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled to begin in May. District officials expect the building to be completed by the start of the 2027 school year.