Naperville Central almost ready to unveil new music wing

Naperville Central High School's new music wing is still about a month away from being student-ready, but it's already getting rave reviews.

Renovations to what is being called the M, or music wing, are nearly complete with bigger and better facilities for band, orchestra and choral groups, and a new black-box theater that will be ready for students returning from winter break.

“It's staggering. This facility going up for our kids is absolutely breathtaking,” band Director DJ Alstadt said. “It's so exciting to have a facility that is the size that reflects the size of our program.”

Alstadt said not only will the wing be open on time but he's already preparing to begin moving equipment in by the second week of December and having a place to actually store it. The size and layout, he said, gives the department “ample cubic feet” for both sound quality and storage.

“I'm this excited about just being able to get ready to move in,” he said. “I cannot wait for kids to get in and begin using it.”

Naperville Unit District 203 school board member Susan Crotty also expressed excitement at Friday's facilities committee meeting.

“Compared to what they had before, the programs they have now are awesome,” Crotty said. “Everyone will be so amazed to see what's happened in there.”

Committee chairman Terry Fielden said the north renovations, which include a new entry and lobby, greenhouse, auto labs and several more classrooms are moving along on schedule and may be complete before the end of next summer.

“There's no question. The north addition is on schedule and moving just about as well as we could have hoped,” Fielden said. “The weather has been phenomenal. It hasn't rained since God knows when and that's helped.”

So far crews have installed the floor, roughed in electrical and plumbing and begun interior and exterior mason work.

The south addition of the $87.7 million renovation project was completed for use by students and staff on the first day school year.

When its all complete, the project at Central, 440 W. Aurora Ave., will include a three-story addition housing all major subject areas.

The 3,000-student school also will have received infrastructure upgrades, a new learning resource center, new athletic and music space, improved traffic flow and synthetic turf on its football field.