Traverse City News and Events

TCAPS Approves Design Work for New Fieldhouse, Central High Reconstruction; Sabin Renovations OK’ed

By Beth Milligan | July 16, 2025

Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) trustees moved three major building projects forward this week, including approving design work for a new fieldhouse near East Middle School and major renovations at TC Central High School. Trustees also approved $3.1 million in construction contracts to upgrade the former Sabin Data Center, the planned new home of district administrative offices.

Fieldhouse
TCAPS took a crucial step this week toward bringing a long-discussed indoor sports complex to life, approving $650,000 in architectural and engineering work with TMP Architecture for a potential new facility on Carlisle Road near East Middle School.

The estimated $17.3 million facility is envisioned to have multi-use fields and courts for year-round practices, games, and tournaments, as well as track lanes, a pole vault pit, changing rooms, and restrooms (pictured, renderings). The fieldhouse would be covered by a combination of private investment and 2018 TCAPS bond funds, with groups like Traverse City Tourism and the nonprofit Northern Michigan Homefield Alliance sponsoring or fundraising roughly half the project costs.

TCAPS Superintendent Dr. John VanWagoner said other funding sources could also be on the table, ranging from state allocations to various grants. VanWagoner also spoke to the importance of establishing a dedicated maintenance fund for the facility. The fieldhouse is planned to be self-sustaining long term through occasional outside rentals and community events, with organizations like the Traverse City Youth Lacrosse Club speaking in support of the project Monday. “It would really be transformative for our club and for the greater broader sports community,” said Board President Kevin Main, citing the challenges posed by cold-weather months without an indoor facility.

Trustees voted 5-2 to approve the design work, with Ty Schmidt and Josey Ballenger opposed. Schmidt said he was “supportive of the vision and purpose” of the project but believed TCAPS should finish its strategic plan first to ensure the fieldhouse aligns with it. Ballenger wanted TCAPS to host public informational sessions to address any confusion around funding sources and other project elements. “I just don’t want to jeopardize the public trust on this project,” she said. “I think it’s too important.”

But other trustees said the facility has been discussed for years and that moving forward with design will give TCAPS a clearer cost estimate – a crucial step for determining project viability and solidifying fundraising. With potentially millions of private dollars in investment at stake, board members didn’t want to jeopardize partnerships that could help make the project a reality. “I think we owe it to those people...who have been courting private donations for well on three years to show evidence of the fact that we’re serious about this,” said Trustee Scott Hardy. “We will have another conversation after we get those numbers in, I’m sure, but I don’t think delaying this is fair to anybody.”

Design work could be completed by the end of this year, with TCAPS going out to bid in early 2026. If all proceeds smoothly, groundbreaking on the facility could take place next May with a targeted July 2027 opening date.

Central High Renovations
TCAPS trustees unanimously approved design work for Central High School renovations Monday. The board narrowed down three options to a preferred approach that calls for demolishing the school’s 1958 gym, building a new competition gym with two regulation courts (bringing the school’s total to three), and creating a new dedicated wrestling room.

Plans also call for constructing a new secure main entrance to provide a single campus point of entry and controlled access for after-hours events. The project is estimated at $20.2 million and would come out of the district’s 2024 bond. A future phase of work could upgrade the property’s auxilary 1968 gym, but that would likely have to be through another bond down the road.

Renovations are intended to address ADA accessibility and security challenges at the high school, including limited sightlines for supervision and a problematic flow that requires students to walk through gym areas to reach classrooms. Staff and trustees wrestled with whether to demolish Central’s historic 1958 gym, which is beloved for its nostalgia and design but doesn’t meet modern school needs. The board considered options that included renovating the existing structures or building a new competition gym without demolishing anything else, but both options – in the same price range as the approved approach – struggled to meet the same project goals and had challenges ranging from consuming 100-150 parking spaces to failing to provide full ADA accessibility.

John Sonneman, a legendary figure in TCAPS athletics who worked in the 1958 gym since the mid-1960s, said he supported the approved approach. “I don’t think any of us have worked in an office for 60-some years without it being totally changed,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place. There’s a nostalgia to it. There’s a character to it. But...times change. Needs change. And I think it’s time that we change.”

TCAPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Christine Thomas-Hill said community input will be crucial to the final approved design, with the hopes that the new gym will still have touches that reference the school’s tradition and history. Construction work could potentially start in spring 2027 and be completed by fall 2028. Some sports – like volleyball and basketball – will be moved to other campuses during construction, staff said.

Sabin
Trustees Monday approved $3.1 million in construction contracts for renovations to the Sabin Data Center. Work will include a complete re-reroofing and replacement of existing doors/windows/soffit panels, plus the renovation of interior spaces to house the district administrative offices. The TCAPS HR and business office departments will relocate to Sabin first. Future renovations – likely covered under a future bond – could provide additional space for the superintendent, communications, and curriculum instruction offices to also move to Sabin. However, those departments will likely be housed at Central High in the meantime, VanWagoner said.

The administrative offices are all moving out of their current home at Glenn Loomis as part of the planned reconstruction of Central Grade School starting next year. Central Grade students will be housed at Glenn Loomis while construction is underway. The future of Glenn Loomis once Central Grade is finished is still up in the air, VanWagoner said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations in this community about early childhood needs and what could this building possibly serve with that,” he said. “But that’s quite a ways down the road.”

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