Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A good-sized crowd gathered on a nice fall day for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new community center coming to Howell Public Schools.

Band students kicked things off at the Monday afternoon event at the site of the new community center, just north of the Highlander Aquatic and Fitness Center on the high school campus near Highlander Way.

Superintendent Erin MacGregor, Board of Education members, and project officials shared some words before the ceremonial “turning of the dirt”.

The 2023 Our Kids, Our Community, Our Future Bond, the community center will serve as a hub for student, family and community activities. The facility will feature a 300-meter indoor track, 100 yards of indoor turf, several multi-purpose rooms and court space. Once complete, the west side of the community center will also serve as the new entrance to the Highlander Aquatic and Fitness Center and include new family changing rooms for aquatic center patrons.

Superintendent Erin MacGregor told WHMI “we’ve been waiting for this day for a while. We passed the bond in 2023 and it seems like it’s just taken awhile to get the planning done and get us to this point but so excited for this community to make this official groundbreaking and in two years, we are going to have a beautiful facility for the entire community”.

MacGregor thanked the community for supporting the bond – saying it was a really big vision that they put together and presented to the community. He said they’ll be able to provide a number of services and supports for students, families, and the community with the multi-purpose facility - which he thinks will be used a lot in the colder months.

Board President Christy Conn told WHMI “I think this is a great symbol of what our Howell community can do when they really come together, we appreciate so much that this bond passed with such community support and we hope that everyone will be able to enjoy this space together”.

Conn said the goal is to have the center open for use for winter sports in 2028.

While the groundbreaking marked the official start of construction on the facility, work has already been completed to relocate and upgrade electrical equipment on the Howell High School campus in preparation for the project, which Conn noted.

The Howell Public Schools Board of Education has also approved bids for the pre-engineered metal building that will form a key component of the new community center.

For more information about the bond proposal and project updates, visit the provided top link.

More photos on WHMI News Facebook page.

Photos: HPS' Tom Gould and Jessica Mathews