COURTESY OF UPPER CAPE REGIONAL TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
BOURNE – Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School officials are planning the construction of a new field house and are seeking large donations to kick-off fundraising.
The 40,000-square-foot facility with an estimated price tag around $20 million would house multiple basketball courts, a pickle ball court, weight room, offices and a walking track over two floors.
Superintendent Bob Dutch said the project would provide much needed space.
“We really don’t see the project as building a field house,” Dutch said. “We are at capacity as far as our enrollment and there continues to be significant demand for our graduates in the workplace.”
The project would allow the school to expand its current space.
“[The new field house] would then allow us to convert our current gym, which isn’t adequate, into additional instructional space, whether for additional programming or simply to add academic space to ease some of the crowding so that we could have the additional students in the technical programs.”
From the school’s perspective, the project is a workforce development project.
“The field house is simply the mechanism to do that,” Dutch said. “It ends up as a win-win for the school and the community because now it becomes a place where the community can come and access the facilities.”
Dutch said the community would also benefit from additional graduates who are available to work in nursing homes, rehab facilities, and in trade fields, including landscaping and home builders.
The structure will be modeled after similar newer facilities at Bridgewater-Raynham and Whitman-Hanson.
Dutch said the facility would also be able to bring in additional revenue by hosting state tournament games and other events.
The initial estimate for the project is $20 million, but Dutch said that price is expected to increase due to increasing construction and material costs. The total cost will depend on how long it takes to raise the funds.
“We are hopeful that we can raise the money in the next 18 months and then have a shovel in the ground two years from now,” Dutch said.
The school is in the major gifts fundraising phase and is seeking a few large donors before starting a more public campaign for smaller donations.
Dutch said there are naming rights available for the new field house as a whole, or for individual components like basketball and pickleball courts.
The school will also accept donations for school technical programs with the funds to go towards the field house project.
Donors wishing to make large contributions can contact Dutch at the school by calling 508-759-7711 or by emailing [email protected].
Dutch said the perception that the project is something the general public should be paying for could be a challenge to fundraising.
“We feel as though this is a benefit to the entire Cape Cod region where we are training future tradespeople for employment,” Dutch said. “It’s really a larger community then the five communities on the Upper Cape that should be participating, including the businesses that will benefit from the graduates coming out of here and the adult education programs that would be created.”
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