External demolition is underway at the old Chesterton Middle School (and before that the old Chesterton High School), as work continues on the construction of the Duneland Family YMCA’s Healthy Living Campus.
Yesterday morning, Monday, Sept. 30, an excavator was at work on the south side of the building, opposite the football field and track, as another page of the history of the historic structure is written.
DEMOLITION AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS
*A large portion of CMS will be demolished, with the “cut line” just east of the existing auditorium and just west of the swimming pool. In other words, the auditorium will go but the pool will remain. Some of the second floor will be retained as well as the space on the far east end now occupied by the DSC administration and some school programming.
*A new gymnasium will be constructed where the auditorium was and to the west of that a brand-new two-story structure, with YMCA administrative and multi-purpose space.
*The small gymnasium will be converted into a “gymnastics and movement space.”
*The locker room adjacent to the existing swimming pool will be used as a wet locker room; the locker room adjacent to the small gymnasium, as a dry locker room.
*Space for the YMCA’s partners—among them, Jacob’s Ladder, NorthShore Health, and Porter- Starke Services—will be provided on the south side of the first floor as well as on the second.
*An indoor running track will be built above the new gymnasium and two very large exercise and multi-purpose rooms, with 8,000 square feet of wellness space will be located on the west side of the second floor.
*Two parking lots will be built, one on the west side of the new structure and one on the south side, with a total capacity of 300 vehicles.
At a ceremonial groundbreaking on Sept. 10, the Duneland YMCA announced that it has been awarded a $1 million READI 2.0 grant for the project from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.