Warren Township approves bid process for O'Plaine locker-room addition; board to consider alternates at special meeting

Warren Township High School District 121 officials presented detailed designs and a bidding timeline on June 10 for a planned locker-room addition at the O'Plaine Campus, telling the board the base project will add athletics and PE locker rooms, staff spaces and an elevator and that several optional items will be priced as alternates.

The presentation matters because the project — described by the district architect as roughly a 23,000-square-foot addition — would relocate a boys pool locker room that currently floods in a basement area, add accessibility between the gym and field house, and create new training and staff spaces adjacent to athletic facilities.

"It's a roughly 23,000-square-foot locker room addition that is added to the south end of the O'Plaine campus," said Shannon Baird, architect with DLA, during the board meeting. Baird walked the board through exterior renderings, a new vestibule to the field house, and interior views showing team and PE locker rooms configured as mirror images with coach offices and dedicated circulation to the football field.

Board members and project staff discussed construction alternates that would be bid with the base work so the district can decide later whether to accept them. District staff listed alternates that include replacing the rubber tile corridor adjacent to the weight room, renovating the boys pool…