The Welcome Project’s Exciting Progress and Bold Future

We’re excited to bring you the latest and greatest update on the Welcome Project—a capital project that kicked off a little over one year ago. This project has gone through several conceptual changes and iterations, each refining our vision and expanding the potential impact on our campus. We want to update you as of today! 

The project’s original renderings illustrated community restrooms and lobby space north of the current gym, additional storage, and beautification of outdoor spaces. Today’s Welcome Project is still focused on a new lobby and restroom area adjacent to the gym, creating a welcoming and functional entrance on the north side of campus, the beautification of outdoor spaces, as well as the REAL possibility of an auxiliary gym. 

During the last few months, we have met weekly with the design team - the General Contractor, architect, project manager, and engineers. With many meetings behind us, many unknowns uncovered, and estimated costs from subs in hand, we have more accurate numbers ready to go! 

A - Lobby and Restrooms = $860,000.00 (need to raise an additional $310,000.00)

B - Lobby and Restrooms ($860,000.00) + Auxiliary Gym ($640,000.00) = $1,500,000.00 

A recap…

The lobby and restroom space is set to be approximately 3,000 square feet, featuring thirteen total restrooms, including a family restroom, as well as a designated area for concessions. This design allows guests to exit the gym without disturbing ongoing events, such as musicals, drama performances, athletic games, graduation ceremonies, and more. The need for this dedicated space has been recognized for years, and thanks to the incredible support of our community, we are now closer than ever to reaching our cash goal for this essential part of the project. The estimated cost for this portion of the project is $860,000.00; with $550,000.00 raised at this time - another $310,000.00 is needed to break ground. 

As you may have heard, the Parretta Family stepped up with an incredibly generous donation to help fund a brand-new auxiliary gym. Over the last several months, we have met with multiple contractors and design teams to determine how this gym can best fit into our campus layout and serve our community. The Lobby and Restrooms will be completed no matter what (with additional funds still to be raised), and we have designed the space to allow for a future gym addition. 

With costs continuing to rise, achieving this goal now is crucial. While the opportunity to add the gym may arise again in the future, it would require significantly more financial support if not done in tandem with the current project. If you’re willing to help bring the gym to life and see the immense value it would bring to Oakhill, please contact Suzanne or Taylor.

Looking toward the future, this gym addition fits seamlessly into our master plan and allows Oakhill to expand in ways that open new opportunities—earlier practice times, dedicated space for major events like drama performances, musicals, Global Celebration, athletics, and much more. We need a donor or donors to step up with the additional dollars to make the gym a reality within this project.

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support as we work together to bring this transformative project to our community! The support for this project has been felt deeply for the past year, and we share in the excitement of getting shovels in the ground

For questions or clarification, please contact Suzanne or Taylor.