Rosemont plans gym addition and park upgrades

Rosemont is planning $4 million worth of park improvements, including a gymnasium, behind the Westin Hotel and apartment buildings near River and Higgins roads.

The new gym at Dunne Park will be constructed on the site of existing tennis courts, and connected to an existing building via a new hallway.

The quiet park currently has a playground, gazebo and pond encircled by a walking path.

Mayor Brad Stephens said the gym addition fits a need in the community since it will be used by children who live in nearby apartments and condominiums.

Fencing has already been installed around the tennis courts and playground equipment in anticipation of site work beginning.

Plans call for trees to be removed near the site of the new gym, playground equipment to be temporarily removed, stormwater detention installed, then reinstallation of the playground farther east, and pouring of concrete for a new parking lot.

That work is expected to take place between now and next spring, when construction of the gym will begin. Minor renovations will be completed in the existing building.

The project should be complete by November 2016, and programming in the gym should start in 2017.

The village board last week approved $1.1 million worth of contracts for initial work, but is expected to approve a larger contract in the coming months for construction of the gym itself.

Stephens said the village is paying the costs of the park renovations, but it's expected the new gym building will be sold to the park district, along with the Barry Street Recreation Center.

That building, located north of the Allstate Arena, was once a fire truck servicing company. The village purchased the building, and then added a gym to it in 2008.

Stephens said the park district is expected to fund costs of the two buildings by recapturing funds through expiration of the village's first tax increment financing district.