Faith Lutheran to break ground on $8 million athletic complex
The largest private school in the Las Vegas Valley will celebrate the groundbreaking of an $8.75 million athletic complex project Thursday afternoon.
The sports complex is the first step in a capital campaign — Build Faith — launched by Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School that will expand the Summerlin campus by 50 acres.
With a student population of 1,476 during the 2013-14 school year, Faith Lutheran is the largest nonpublic school in Nevada and the largest Lutheran school in the United States.
According to a release sent from school officials, construction for the athletic complex will cost about $6.5 million, with an additional $2.25 million spent on land for later phases of the project.
The athletic complex will include a 1,150-seat gym, weight room, locker rooms, offices, concession stands, bathrooms and storage areas.
“It’s the heart of our campus,” Steve Buuck, CEO of the school, said of the gym. “We celebrate our achievements and we endure our disappointments in this building, and we do it together.”
School officials are asking for multi-year pledges from attending families, staff, community partners and alumni to finance the project.
About $2.5 million has been raised, Buuck said.
The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the school. Kevin Orrock, Summerlin community president, will speak.
After the athletic complex is built, the second phase of the Build Faith campaign will start. That will entail getting rid of portable classrooms, building new tennis courts and offices and moving the softball field. Additional acreage should be acquired by the Howard Hughes Corporation in 2014, school officials said. The second phases should be complete by 2021.
By the end of the project, the school will have the capacity for 2,700 students.
Buuck thinks the campus expansion will benefit the community too.
“I think there’s good momentum for Faith right now,” he said.
