BY DENNY BENNETT
MARCH 2017
You”'ll definitely notice the activity beginning on Monday, March 27th. Fencing goes up around the southeast end of the building and parking lot, the roll-off dumpsters hit the scene, and there will be activity much earlier than usual. Selective demolition inside the pool area will have begun!
APRIL 2017
By the following week, the heavy equipment will be outside, and weather permitting, April will start the month with outdoor demolition. Next comes the excavation, and then the foundation for the new addition, which will contain the new, 25-yard, 4-lane, warm water, learn- to-swim pool.
May 2017
May should be a stunning month as the addition takes shape! The whole look of the Phillips Community Center will have changed by the end of May as this new structure now has walls and a roof, after just two months. You”'ll be able to practically hear the people splashing in the pool inside!
June and July 2017
June & July are the months where it looks like nothing is happening on the new addition, but some of the most important things are getting taken care of before further work is done. Plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems get installed and routed throughout the space. A high percentage of the work done in these months will end up getting covered up, and you”'ll never see it, but you sure will appreciate it.
At the other end of the building however, the west entrance will likely be closed, as the new entry is constructed during these same two months. Although not nearly as dramatic as the new addition on the front of the building, this too will be fun to watch as it changes the look of the building.
While all of this is happening, you will also see big changes taking place outside as the parking lot gets expanded and reconfigured to best utilize space. The summer of 2017 will definitely be a good one for taking public transportation to the Phillips Community Center, as parking will be very tight during this time.
August 2017
August is pool installation month on the inside, with the new pool getting installed in the new addition, and the guts of the large pool getting completely replaced.
September 2017
September starts the home stretch! Painting and flooring. The plan is for the parking lot to be striped, and completed this month as well
October 2017
October is the month the bleachers get built, lockers get installed in the new family locker rooms, cabinetry gets built out, doors and hardware get installed and other more detailed kinds of things.
November 2017
November is finalizing finishes, putting the end pieces on the plumbing, electric, heating, air conditioning and other mechanical systems, and trimming out the project. Signage also gets installed at this point.
December 2017
December is just about finishing anything left to do, and getting everything cleaned up, and delivering the finished product by December 15th, 2017!
Nobody can predict what kind of crazy weather might affect us, or what unforeseen obstacles the construction team may encounter as they begin to dig, but this is a well thought out plan, with the architect, the Minneapolis Park Board, the City of Minneapolis and the contractor all working together to make it happen on this time table.
Let”'s plan to go swimming next winter in the Phillips Aquatics Center!
For further updates, please follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mplsswims/.
Denny Bennett is president of the board of directors of Minneapolis Swims and a mortgage banker with KleinBank, and can be reached at denny@dennybennett.com or 612-804-0488.
