By the end of the year, Badin High School’s expanded parking lot should be completed, providing around 700 total spaces for after-school events.
And it will be a big help when construction starts on the new sports complex, which could open sometime in 2025.
Badin High School President Brian Pendergest said site work on the $15 million stadium project would need to be done before construction begins, and he’s uncertain when that could happen. The goal, though, is to have it open by the spring or fall of 2025.
“The goal is to be playing here in the next couple of years,” he said, which construction could take 12 to 18 months.
The stadium project received planning commission approval in May. Because there wasn’t a substantial change to the project, it was not re-presented to City Council, according to the city’s planning department. There were some changes, including a shift of the field’s orientation north, the removal of any exits onto Jerdan, and the addition of more trees to the southern end of the complex.
The $3 million parking lot had been “quite an undertaking,” said Badin spokesman Dirk Allen. He said there will be a turn lane from New London Road onto the school property, and all exits and entrances into the school will be from New London. Additionally, there will be a sidewalk in front of the school that will lead to Jerdan Road.
As of now, the new parking lot is dirt as crews recently finished installing the underground stormwater system and are installing the piers for the light posts. Next, electric conduits will be installed underground.
“There’s a lot more work that has to be done,” Pendergest said. “But once they get the underground stuff done, they’ll get to the curbs and asphalt.”
It’s expected the parking lot will be completed by early December, before the end of this school year’s first semester.
The parking lot was needed regardless of the sports complex. About 90% of the juniors and seniors drive to school (which is around 250 students), and with the expected student growth, the school would likely have run out of parking spaces in a few years, Pendergest said.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
He also said Badin couldn’t construct the sports complex without the parking lot expansion.
“What this really does for us, once we have the new sportsplex, it provides enough parking for that facility, but it really frees up a lot space when we have basketball games, volleyball games, meet the teacher nights. Any event here in the evening our parking lot is full,” he said.
The 2021-2022 school year saw around 640 students, and this year, for the 2023-2024 school year, the Catholic high school has 695. For 2024-2025, enrollment is expected to exceed 700 students. And Pendergest said, give or take 15 to 20 students, that is close to where they’d “like to try to remain.”
“Our administrative team has done a great job in getting creative and maximizing all the classrooms,” he said of the school that draws from several local and regional Catholic elementary schools, including Sacred Heart and Queen of Peace in Butler County and St. John’s Dry Ridge and St. John’s Harrison in Hamilton County.
The sports complex will be named after a Hamilton-based steel services company founded by Frank Pfirman. He and his wife, Joanne, “have been extremely generous to Badin for years and so they are the lead sponsor on this, so the whole complex will be named Matandy SportsPlex.”
The school has just under $9.7 million raised for the stadium project. Anyone wishing to contribute should visit badinhs.org/athleticcomplex.html.
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