Morgan County Event Center exterior almost finished, interior work progressing
Apr. 11—Construction of the Morgan County Event Center in Cotaco is moving rapidly, with the exterior largely complete except for what can't be built until finishing the the interior — which includes a walking track and two gyms.
"It's going to be good for the whole area," said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long. "It's going to be something for all ages to use. It will be available for everybody, not just the east side of the county. We'll use it for ball games, we'll have different events in it. It's something that everybody will be able to enjoy for years to come."
The 34,627-square-foot event center will be located on 24 acres at Luker Road and Union Hill Road, across the street from the District 4 shop in Cotaco. Greg Abercrombie, Morgan County District 4 commissioner, said that about 20 months ago, the county used 3M Co. settlement money to purchase the land for about $180,000.
The Morgan County Commission approved about a $7.16 million bid for the event center in April 2024. The county will spend about $2 million from the 3M settlement money and about $5 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds.
"Joe Wheeler (EMC) contractors were out there (Tuesday) putting up power lines," Abercrombie said.
Abercrombie said the HVAC system has been installed. He said they will need to turn on the air conditioning several weeks before the center opens.
"The wood, when they bring it in, it's still in the pallets," he said. "The room has to be the temperature of what we're basically going to keep it once we open them up. So, it has to acclimate to that room temperature for a minimum of a month. That's when they can actually take the wood out of the pallets and begin putting it down on the floor."
Abercrombie said the wood will warp if it does not become acclimated to the room temperature.
"They want it to stay in the same temperature so it will stay its normal size and not expand and contract," he said. "We need the floor to be smooth."
There will be two gymnasiums. The upstairs concrete walking track has already been poured, Abercrombie said. He said the fire alarm and sprinkler systems have also been installed and so have some of the lights in one gymnasium.
"Right now, we've been in the process of ordering bleachers and the pads that go on the ends of the walls on the basketball courts," Abercrombie said.
Abercrombie said the exterior is almost complete. He said they are finishing bricking the front of the center.
"Where the front doors are, they've still got that completely out," he said. "Still having to go back and forth in with a mechanical lift. They can't seal that up yet."
The sidewalks are poured on three sides, Abercrombie said. They have not built the sidewalk in front of the center yet due to the lift going in and out of the building. The gutters could be installed this week.
"It's really changing right now," Abercrombie said.
At Tuesday's commission meeting, the commission approved putting out a bid request for the construction of an onsite sewer system for the center.
"For my area, we've never had anything like this, ever, in our district," Abercrombie said. "In my area, I think it's going to bring the communities out that way to one facility to use."
Abercrombie said they do not have a date set for when the center will open.
"It's probably like any other entity being built like this, everything seems like it's going great in a timely manner, but now and then there will be an item that has been ordered but hasn't come in," he said.
With that caveat, Abercrombie said he hopes it will be complete by the first of next year or sooner.
Long said he would like to have more event centers across the county eventually.
"But funding has a lot to do with that," he said. "Eventually we'd like to have a few more gyms scattered around the county. But we don't have a time frame because money is always the key. Right now, we don't know what's going to happen with the economy — a lot going on."
—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.
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