THE HANGAR CLOSING IN ON COMPLETION
JEREMY WALTNER – EDITOR & PUBLISHER
When wrestlers and coaches from Marion/Freeman gather for their first practice of the 2022-23 season on Monday, Nov. 14, they will do so in a place to call their own.
That’s because work on The Hangar, a wrestling room that will double as a multipurpose facility, is within weeks of completion on the Freeman Public campus. Freeman Public Superintendent Jake Tietje said it could be turn-key ready by the first week of November. The official completion date is Nov. 10.
“We’re projecting it will be done before that,” Tietje told The Courier on Tuesday. “It could be as early as two weeks from now.”
The 3,800 square-foot addition to the existing school building is being constructed between the elementary school gym and north/south bus lane and is accessible through both exterior doors and doors connecting it to the gym.
The no-frills facility is primarily one large room that will accommodate one-and-a-half wrestling mats — about 60 feet x 42 feet. There are no bathroom facilities inside the structure but there is a drinking fountain on the south side of the space.
The structure has been enclosed since August; only recently has some of the finishing work been put in place, like a large sign identifying the building on the southeast side, exterior lighting and the roof line.
“It really makes it look nice,” Tietje said. “It will match up nicely with the rest of our building.”
Work this week includes wall mats that will be installed around the perimeter of the room, and electrical work was scheduled to finsh up this week, as well. Meanwhile, dirt around the exterior has been prepared for seeding.
The Hangar was designed by JLG Architects and is being built by Puetz Design + Build, which was awarded a bid of $1,099,999 by the Freeman School Board at its March 14 meeting. Work began the last week of May.
“It’s gone well,” said Doug McCune of the Mitchell-based company, who is also a member of the school board. “We should be turn-key and ready for wrestling in November.”
This is the fourth major addition to the school building since the junior-senior high school opened in 1975. A gym was built in 1992 and the elementary wing opened in 2009.
