Plans are underway to break ground on a 60 to 90,000 square foot recreation and wellness facility on the campus of Austintown Local Schools.

The district is still tweaking plans, but they expect to construct the building near the high school and football field. The structure will potentially stand between south circle and the current rec center.

The goal is to make the center similar to a mini YSU WATTS center.

"Just to have the unique versatility to have every sports team that we currently have on campus the ability to go in there and utilize it," Austintown Local Schools Treasurer CFO Blaise Karlovic said.

The idea is to provide year-round indoor utilization no matter what the weather is.

"Baseball, softball...you can do some hitting inside," Athletic Director Russell Houser said, "For track...you can do some running rather than running the hallways at the school like we currently do, so it'll definitely be something that expands everything our students."

Plans include a turf field, batting cages, three-lane track, weight room, wrestling space and maybe even a golf simulator.

This will allow athletes to practice simultaneously and take the burden off scheduling practice elsewhere.

"We do take up a lot of high school hallways... gymnasiums... and aren't able to provide our student-athletes with the well-rounded offseason rigorous program that our coaches and other staff would like to see happen," Karlovic said. 

Karlovic said they've been setting aside funds to make this happen, using their general fund to pay for it.

The district plans to break ground by the end of this year and hopes the rec center is finished in two years.