Wheaton Athletic Center getting slight name change

An ever-so-subtle name change is coming soon to Wheaton's Central Athletic Center.

In May, the Wheaton Park District launched a contest asking residents to send in their suggestions for a new name for the building at 500 S. Naperville Road that would capture "the excitement and tradition that this iconic building exemplified in our community."

Apparently, "Central Athletic Complex" is it.

"It's kind of, obviously, ironic that it ended up being as close to the (original) name as it was," said Margie Wilhelmi, the park district's director of marketing. "A lot of people in Wheaton liked something attached to the 'Central' model because of the name of Central High School and also because of its location."

The building opened as Wheaton Community High School in the 1920s. The name was changed in the 1960s to Wheaton Central High School. John and Jim Belushi passed through its halls, along with Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.

Between 1992 and 2006, the building housed Hubble Middle School. When the school relocated to Warrenville, the building sat vacant for several years.

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 agreed to sell the property to Bradford Properties in 2012 for $5 million. Part of the property was turned into a Mariano's grocery store, and the park district decided to purchase a section of the building with three gymnasiums for $3.25 million.

Park District Executive Director Mike Benard said staff agreed to call the facility the Central Athletic Center when the park district acquired the property, as calling it "the old Hubble" was confusing to people who were searching for Hubble Middle School.

More than 100 ideas for a new name were submitted online this summer. Wilhelmi said about 20 of the submissions were focused on keeping the Central Athletic Center name the same, or just slightly revising it.

"I was actually surprised by how many submissions they were," she said. "I think people had a lot of fun with it."

A naming committee was formed, and after two meetings the number of names was narrowed down to three. Committee members included former park board member Dave Blankenship, Franklin Middle School Assistant Principal Joe Kish, and business owners Dorothy Chapin, Keith Carlson and Rich Armbrust.

The top three names - Central Athletic Complex, Gateway Athletic Complex and Wheaton Central Athletic Complex - were presented to the park board on Aug. 19.

While there were more creative submissions referencing specific people, Wilhelmi said the committee agreed to steer away from suggestions that included the name of an individual or family because the park board hopes to eventually look at corporate naming rights for some park district facilities in the future.

"Everybody on the committee felt good about the name and felt like it really does exemplify what the facility is," she said. "All the other facilities carry a name for what's at that location."

Wilhelmi added that the committee agreed the word "complex" took the name of the building "to that next level" because it described the multiple offerings in the building, including two basketball courts, four volleyball courts, two batting cages, a tumbling area and indoor soccer and lacrosse training areas.

The name must be public knowledge for 30 days before the board taking action, so an official vote is scheduled for Oct. 21, at Wheaton City Hall. Once the name is confirmed, the people who suggested the name will be awarded a 2016 pool pass.

Wilhelmi said an estimated cost of the name change is not available, as the park district is still in the process of specking out signage.

There are also plans to name the outdoor area of the facility - which will eventually hold multipurpose fields for soccer, football and lacrosse, as well as three renovated baseball and softball fields and a jogging path - Gateway Park, which references how the location is the "gateway" to downtown Wheaton.

Benard said the park board asked him to consider exploring additional naming opportunities for parks and monuments that would recognize Wheaton's veterans and local service clubs. He said the resident committee will continue to vet those possibilities.