Wilmette Park District to install new cooling tower for Centennial Ice Rink this summer

Visitors to the Centennial Recreation Complex in Wilmette this summer may notice a large concrete “slab” being constructed adjacent to the building.

That is where the future location of the Centennial Ice Rink’s new cooling tower will be, according to the Wilmette Park District.

The Wilmette Park Board, last month, unanimously approved a $1.3 million contract with ProTemp Mechanical, of Westchester, to install the new cooling tower, which will replace the current aging tower, currently located on the roof of Centennial.

Park district officials said the bid came in under the $2.05 million that had been budgeted for the project.

In his memo to the Park Board for their May 11 regular meeting, Josh Wallace, the park district’s superintendent of parks and planning, said the cooling tower has reached the end of its useful life.

Wallace added that the park district initially wanted to put the new tower on the roof again, but it was determined that wasn’t possible “due to insufficient clearance to meet current engineering standards and manufacturer spacing requirements.”

Because of that, the park district will now install the new cooling tower on the ground.

Chris Lindgren, the park district’s executive director, said at the May meeting that work at the site will begin in July.

“There’s a ton of site work involved with setting a new pad and foundations and footings for the new unit, he said. “All that work will go through August and probably a little bit into September.”

This includes the installation of an acoustical wall that Wallace wrote is meant to comply with the Village’s noise ordinances. That wall received a unanimous recommendation from the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals earlier this year and was approved at a recent Village Board meeting as part of its consent agenda.

Once the new cooling tower itself arrives and is installed, the old one will be disconnected and all the connections to the new tower will be made, Lindgren said.

In all, park district officials estimate the entire project will take about five months. Reportedly, it will also include the relocation of a ComEd service line.

Lindgren also noted that the old cooling tower will be removed, which will then necessitate restoration work that will have to be done on Centennial’s roof. He told the Park Board he’s expecting to bring bids for that project to them by the end of this year, and that money for the roof work has already been budgeted for next year.

Commissioners praised staff for how they’ve navigating the cooling tower project.

“I think everybody’s worked together, because it is a critical infrastructure project, and it was a lot of money, and it’s still a lot of money, but it’s a lot less than it could have been,” Commissioner Mike Murdock said.

Park Board President Patrick Lahey agreed.

“I’m very happy with the methodical and deliberate nature staff has undertaken to get us to this point,” he said.

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