The Moon Area School District is moving forward with an ambitious plan to renovate athletic facilities on the Moon High School campus.
It won’t be cheap.
At a special meeting late last month, the district’s board of trustees approved eight bids associated with the high school stadium renovation, accepted a proposal to install artificial turf baseball and softball fields and gave the go-ahead to build five new replacement tennis courts and much-needed parking.
The stadium renovation project will include a new indoor athletic facility that will feature a 24,500-square-foot indoor turf area and 5,000-square-foot weight room.
The bids associated with the stadium renovation project exceed $39 million in total, while the new turfed baseball and softball fields – a project that includes an additional multipurpose field – could cost up to $3.45 million.
Originally, district officials hoped to have a maintenance building constructed along with the tennis courts, but those bids came in too high. So, the district plans to eliminate the maintenance building from its plans and instead use that area for additional parking.
More specific details about the project will be presented at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 12.
The Nov. 24 special meeting, at which the expenditures totaling more than $42 million were approved, was the last one featuring four board members – former president Amy Stuart and trustees Kate Wise, Patrick Callahan and William Kammerer. New trustees Ben Brands, Bryan Seybert, Jen Suehr and Dr. Morgan Mihok were elected to the nine-member board in November, and they were sworn in at a Dec. 2 meeting.
Jason D’Alesio, the district superintendent, said the Jan. 12 meeting is being held in part to make sure the four new board members are up to speed regarding the new athletic facilities projects. D’Alesio said the architect working on the project – Hank Tkacik of Axis Architecture – and construction manager Mike Pickens from SiteLogiq will attend at the Jan. 12 meeting.
“Our prior board members had been at every meeting and were a part of every discussion – they knew every part of this project,” D’Alesio said last week. “We want to make sure our four new members have all the information they need going forward. And they want that as well.”
The largest of the stadium project bids approved at the Nov. 24 meeting was in the amount of $20,203,254 for general construction services to be provided by Mike Coates Construction Co.
Other approved construction bids were for:
- Sitework – Tedesco Excavating & Paving, Inc.: $5,740,000
- Turf field – Force Turf Solutions: $348,612
- Bleachers – Dant Clayton Corp.: $3,199,000
- Plumbing – Enders Plumbing & Heating: $1,926,000
- Mechanical (HVAC) – East West Mechanical Inc.: $2,924,000
- Electrical – A-1 Electric: $4,758,000
That was in addition to the $3,450,000 proposal from Force Turf Solutions to replace the grass baseball and softball fields with turf fields and also construct a multipurpose field.
Stuart, the former board president, said at the Nov. 24 meeting she was excited to see the bids approved and the projects move forward.
“I can’t want to see this in a year and a half and to let our students and community see what we have,” she said. “We’re going to be very competitive with the top districts with what we’re trying to do.”
The Moon Area School District is moving forward with plans to renovate and add athletic facilities on the Moon High School campus.
D’Alesio said last week that the goal is to have the new turf baseball and softball fields – and the new multipurpose field – ready for play by the fall of 2026. He said work on that project would begin as soon as the 2026 baseball and softball seasons end, and work on the stadium project should get underway in February.
D’Alesio also said the completion date for the stadium renovations and the new indoor sports facility – which also will house a concessions area — is estimated at mid-August 2027.
That means that Moon High School athletic teams that use the stadium must play their “home” games elsewhere during the 2026-27 school year. D’Alesio said the district hopes to utilize the nearby Montour Junction and Robert Morris University’s Neville Island facilities and there’s the potential to use other RMU facilities in Moon Township, plus nearby high school facilities.
The district also will “repurpose” a portion of the former Hyde Elementary School campus after originally planning to demolish a portion of it. Those plans changed when bids for the demolition work came in well over budget. Now, the district will use the portion of the building that was slated for demolition as a temporary weight room, locker room and storage area.
D’Alesio said the former Hyde campus also will house a new special education program starting next school year.
He said that after the stadium renovations and the new permanent weight room are completed, officials will decide how to best utilize what will be the vacated portion of the former Hyde Elementary campus.
“We’re happy about what the future holds for that space, once the weight room is out of there,” he said during the Nov. 24 board meeting.
D’Alesio said last week that funding for the stadium renovation work will come from bond proceeds, and that costs associated with the new baseball/softball/multipurpose turf project will be covered by the district’s capital reserve fund.
D’Alesio said sufficient funds are available to cover both projects.
“We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t have the funds to do so,” he said. “Whenever we work with the board to decide anything having to do with taxes, we have to keep in mind our budget, what we’re doing and how we’re paying off this bond.”
D’Alesio said that once the new athletic facilities are in place, “that will complete our campus.” He also said the facilities will benefit more than just students, as outside organizations – athletic and otherwise – could use them for various community-oriented events.
“I know our baseball and softball teams are very excited about the (artificial turf) piece of it,” he said. “And I know local clubs and other groups will be excited about the potential of that field.
“We’re really trying to do our part for our community and our students, to give them the best we have to offer for them.”
D’Alesio, looking forward to the fall of 2027, added, “We truly believe that we will have the best facilities and campus around.”
A separate special education facility? Wow