Rosemont dome to be reinflated any day now
Rosemont's sports dome covering is being stitched together and will be reinflated any day now, in time for indoor sports and clinics to resume in early January, officials said.
The old roof was ripped off during a heavy storm Aug. 2, forcing users to find other indoor venues to play this winter.
Ten new individual plastic pieces that make up the dome roof were manufactured and delivered to Rosemont last week by the dome's manufacturer, Arizon Structures, and crews are almost done piecing them together.
Once the fabric is all together and attached to the building around the door units, it can be inflated by high-powered fans. Crews are waiting for a good weather day to attach the covering to the building and get it in the air, said Mayor Brad Stephens.
Once inflated, the dome will rise as high as seven stories, covering an indoor field space of 140,000 square feet.
The village is paying Gurtz Electric $347,000 to reinstall lighting once the dome is up. It already paid Orange Crush LLC $72,000 for a heavy plastic covering that's protecting two indoor baseball/softball fields from the outdoor elements.
Stephens said the repair costs, estimated to be $2.5 million, will be covered by insurance.
The indoor sports dome, located west of the Tri-State Tollway and north of Balmoral Avenue, cost the village $2.4 million to build. It opened in 2012.