Arlington Heights Park District to rename Olympic pool, park
The Arlington Heights Park District is looking for recommendations from the public on renaming the Olympic Indoor Swim Center and surrounding park, where a $17 million renovation project is taking place.
The building at 660 N. Ridge Ave. has primarily operated as an aquatics facility since 1970, but the renovation project will make it more of a one-stop shop for all things fitness, district officials say, prompting the renaming campaign.
Residents can provide their naming ideas at ahpd.org/younameit-form, marketing@ahpd.org, or by dropping off a form at the administration center, 410 N. Arlington Heights Road. According to the district, the winning idea can be a historic name or an alternative name that includes street names surrounding the site, such as Euclid or Ridge. Or it can be something new, such as an abbreviation or acronym. It can't, however, contain the word "Olympic". The new name must be accompanied by a description of 100 words or less explaining how it reflects the evolution of the new facility, its new amenities and purpose.
Nominations are accepted until 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16. The park board will review and discuss all entries at a meeting in 2019, before making a decision.
Officials broke ground in August on the two-story, 53,975-square-foot addition to Olympic, expected to be complete at the beginning of 2020. It will include a gymnasium with two full-sized basketball courts, a second-floor indoor walking track, a 30-by-50-foot warm water pool, a fitness area and multipurpose rooms. Of the $17 million being spent - a mixture of borrowing via bond issues, property taxes and reserves - about $1 million is for maintenance of the existing building, including fixing a pool drain, replacing the boiler and installing a new dehumidification system.