Naperville’s Nike Park taking shape

Once just 20 wooded acres of invasive species, Naperville Park District’s new Nike Sports Complex is beginning to look like a park.

Despite a predominantly cool and rainy spring, park officials say the project at the southeast corner of Diehl Road and Mill Street is nearly 75 percent complete with the renovation highlight scheduled for the middle of next week.

Project manager Michael Piszynski said the carpet for the district’s first lighted, synthetic turf field is expected to be installed Wednesday or Thursday, May 18-19.

“I hear putting that carpet down is quite a process,” Piszynski said. “I’m going to come out and check that out. I’m anxious to see the finished product there.”

Besides the synthetic turf field, other key amenities in the $7 million project include sand volleyball courts and multiuse fields for soccer, football and lacrosse. The district also is adding lighted courts for tennis, basketball and volleyball, as well as a playground, walking and bicycle trails, and one of two cricket pitches in Naperville.

This week, crews have been focused on the decorative landscaping and re-sodding the north fields.

“Even in the winter, things didn’t really look connected,” Piszynski said. “But everything is really coming together. It’s going to be a great amenity.”

The sand and gravel aggregate base for the new tennis and basketball courts and synthetic turf field is finished, and the parking lots are installed. Lighting, concrete curbing and the new walkway are complete. The landscaped berm and park support building also are done.

“Our drop-dead deadline is the beginning of July and our target for completion is just a little earlier than that,” Piszynski said of the nearly yearlong project. “It’s right around the corner.”

The community seems ready for the new park, too. Many fall programs planned for the site are booking up.

“Thousands of adults and children will get good use of that very space soon,” he said.

The Nike Sports Complex is named for its military heritage within the community and also for the Greek winged goddess Nike, or Nicé, a mythological spirit of victory in battle and peaceful competition.

The park improvements are based on resident feedback obtained during the acquisition process at several public meetings and from recommendations in the district’s Open Space and Recreation Master Plan. Engineering plans were developed and the park site was approved by the city in April. Ground was broken in June.