A facelift is underway to bring a decades-old playground in Fairmont City back to life as a place where children can happily and safely play. A $100,000 renovation kicked off last month at Kinder Park when Fairview Heights construction-management company IMPACT Strategies and its subcontractors began pouring concrete sidewalks and constructing a new 20’x16’ wooden pavilion.
The companies involved are all donating their time and materials to make the project a success. They include:
- Architectural Sheet Metal
- United Ironworkers
- Lowry Electric
- American Exterior-Interior Services, Inc.
- Gillihan Concrete
- PM Leach Painting
- Ox2 Engineers
- Clinton Seamless Guttering
- Rehkemper & Son
- Braddock Architectural Services, LLC
- Hackmann Lumber
“This is one of those projects that will have a significant, positive impact on the lives of residents of this community for years to come,” said Mark Hinrichs. “It’s our pleasure to be involved and to able to lend our support to such a great cause.”
IMPACT’s pre-construction manager Derek Schaefer said his company is responsible for the pavilion and its related components, which include the concrete pad it sits on and the sidewalks leading to it. Construction crews spent the past several weeks framing the pavilion, setting trusses, sheeting the soffits/ceiling, and installing the electric and lights. The structure will be painted and the standing seam metal roof installed in the coming week.
Kinder Park’s renovation became a reality thanks to Illinois Representative Jay Hoffman and Curtis Francois of Gateway Motorsports. Francois began enlisting support from area businesses after learning from Hoffman that the children of Fairmont City didn’t have a safe place to play.
“Jay Hoffman told me the condition of Kinder Park and I asked what we could do to help restore it,” said Francois. “He connected me with Fairmont City Manager Scott Penny. Together we came up with a plan to renovate the park and I reached out to a few businesses to donate goods and services. Impact Strategies took the lead on organizing the trades needed to complete the project. It’s just great to see companies and the City come together for a great cause and we were happy to be a part of making things a little brighter for the neighborhood kids.”
The pavilion is expected to be complete in early August. At that time, city crews will install new basketball hoops, benches/tables and playground equipment.
IMPACT Strategies, Inc. specializes in Retail, Commercial, Medical, Senior Housing and Education construction and offers comprehensive construction services including design-build, general contracting, construction management and pre-construction management.