• View a video of Palo Alto High School's new gym here.
Palo Alto High School's new 91,765-square-foot athletic complex, set to open this fall, rivals most high schools' and even some colleges' athletic facilities.
It has dedicated wrestling and dance rooms, a vast weight room, a training room with a hydrotherapy tub, a golf simulator, numerous coaches' offices with flat-screen TVs for watching game footage, multiple locker rooms, a large classroom for courses on nutrition and sports medicine and not one but two gyms, among many other bells and whistles. Throughout the building, enormous arched windows that match the architecture of the campus let in natural light.
The new complex more than doubles the square footage of Paly's historic 85-year-old gym, which was demolished in the fall of 2015.
"I've never seen a high school have this," said Tom Hodges, principal of fs3|Hodges, the construction management company for the project. "Never."
The $41.6 million project was made possible by a private donation from the Peery family, who in 2013 said they wanted to provide a community space that would "nurture the whole child and provide some balance in the fast-paced, work-obsessed environment we live in."
The Peery family donated $23.4 million to build the athletic center -- thought to be the single largest gift the Palo Alto school district has ever received. The school district's share grew from an original $5.7 million in 2013 to a final $18.2 million, funded entirely through the $378 million "Strong Schools" bond voters passed in 2008.
Jason Peery, son of Paly graduate Richard Peery, told the Weekly the athletic center has turned out "the way we hoped."
"It's not only an awesome facility but also an opportunity for the whole school to gather together, hang out together and support each other in a way they couldn't before with the previous gym," he wrote in an email. "The viewing experience will be phenomenal. That also makes the community want to come and be involved with the school."
While an official grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 21, coaches, athletics staff and physical-education teachers have been eagerly familiarizing themselves with the space in recent weeks and months, said Palo Alto Unified Bond Program Manager Bob Golton.
Student-athletes will be able to use some of the new facilities, primarily the weight room, as early as July. The weight room, despite being below ground, is large and airy, with rubber flooring that features images of Paly's mascot, the Viking. Next door, a fitness room will soon be filled with rowing, bicycling and other aerobics machines that will be accessible to students of all skill levels, said Paly Athletic Director Kathi Bowers.
The new basement level of the complex, which added 50,523 square feet, houses the weight room and fitness room as well as main PE locker rooms, team locker rooms, restrooms and showers; a PE classroom with a projector; office space for PE teachers; a break room for coaches and teachers; a small, gender-neutral locker room with showers; and a golf room with a simulator so the team can practice even if it's raining.
The complex is a huge boon not only to the sports teams, Bowers said, but to the PE department and broader school community.
"It's more than just athletics," she told the Weekly. "It's first and foremost an educational building."
On the ground level is the wrestling room, dance studio (whose floor is made of wood that has more bounce to it), a lactation room and the main entrance. Previously, the wrestling and dance teams shared a space about one-third of the size, Bowers said. There's also a second, small gym, which seats 250 people. A memento from the floor of the old gym -- a circular, green piece that reads "Palo Alto Vikings" -- is now mounted on one of the small gym's walls.
Outside, the swimming pool was largely untouched, but the pool's deck was expanded, outdoor showers were added and dedicated locker rooms were built for the students involved in swimming activities. The aquatics staff requested lockers and showers that would be directly accessible from the pool deck, "noting that going downstairs (to the gym locker rooms) when wet was not realistic nor safe," Golton said.
The crowning feature of the complex is the new main gym. It seats 1,640, has a new audio-visual system, movable seats and can be split into three sections to accommodate three teams simultaneously. Peery anticipates that when the new gym is packed with fans for games, "The vibe ... is going to be off the charts."
With seats on the court, the space is large enough to accommodate the entire school for assemblies, Hodges said on a recent tour of the space. A large screen can drop down into the gym for presentations or events.
A traditional trophy case stretching along one side of the gym above the seats will showcase the history of Paly athletics with trophies, plaques, oil paintings of various sports by an artist and Paly alum and other memorabilia, Bowers said. A group of Paly student-athletes has been coming up with ideas for how to fill the cases.
Another group of students has been enlisted to open a student store in the new center, she said.
A coaches' suite with whiteboards and an 80-inch flat-screen TV overlooks the new court from above. Just off the gym there's a small, secondary training room, locker rooms, equipment storage and even a laundry room.
As with Paly's other facilities, including the Media Arts Center and Performing Arts Center, the new athletic center will be rentable for community use and events. Previously, Paly took in about $25,000 per year from renting out the old gyms on weekends and over the summer, Golton said. The school plans to use the 2017-18 school year for staff's and students' adjustment to the space before renting it out the following year, when Paly anticipates receiving the same or slightly higher revenue rental, Golton said.
The donor, school and district hope the new complex will usher in a new era for athletics and community at Paly. Peery said it's incredibly meaningful for his father, who attended Paly in the 1950s and still lives in Palo Alto, to be able to see the center come to fruition.
Bowers said she has led some "very, very excited" groups of students on early tours of the facility.
"They can't wait" to take full advantage of the center, she said. "They're chomping at the bit."
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Comments
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 9, 2017 at 8:05 am
on Jun 9, 2017 at 8:05 am
Thank you Peery family for this incredible gift to our community!! Health, fitness and athletics are an important factor in our children's well being.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:16 am
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:16 am
How can our public school district maintain parity of facilities when the rich folks of north PA continually donate to improve only their neighborhood facilities--especially when this is done AFTER bond measure projects have been approved?
Since there seems to be an emerging pattern of large donations like this on the north side of town, what requirements should be attached to donations in order to maintain parity?
It's time for a serious policy discussion about how to handle donations and maintain parity.--Existing PAUSD policy requires parity, but it seems to be often brushed aside when large donors come forward.
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:43 am
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:43 am
Just curious if only student-athletes and PE classes will be able to use these spaces or will the whole student population have access to them?
Crescent Park
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:53 am
on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:53 am
Facilities are for entire student.body. PE classes, intramurals, etc.
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jun 9, 2017 at 12:14 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 12:14 pm
@Crescent Park Dad - if a student just wants to work out in the weight room, do they need to be part of team or class? And I didn't think Paly had intramural sports.
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:20 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:20 pm
@big donors- parity policy
i figured there would be whiners complaining about something to do with this facility, you can never please everyone especially in PA.
FYI Paly had an 85 YEAR OLD gym!! The place was a pit! Gunn on the other hand has 2 nice full sized gyms , one of which was built relatively recently. I'm not sure what the issue is on this with respect to "parity" of facilities.
Crescent Park
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:29 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:29 pm
Thank you Peery's, for the beautiful gym.
Wow! Paly sure has changed from the late 70s when I was a student there and a member of the track team, running around a dirt track that was always flooded in the rainy season. Paly students are so spoiled now.
When I was a Paly student there were two gyms: a girls gym and a boys gym. I'm wondering if the girls will be able to use the beautiful new facility, especially the basketball court, or if it's only for the boys.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:40 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 1:40 pm
Congrats to Paly and the new facilities. The reason folks like @big donors- parity policy sound like "whiners" may have something to do with equity issues that are hard for some people to understand.
Let me give you an example. Gunn had raised money through a booster's group to try and put refrigeration and hot water into an existing storage area so that they could use them for running food concessions for sporting events. Facilities people in the district came over and confiscated the refrigerator and shut down the efforts. They were told the refrigerator could not be used. Any concessions supplies/food have to be stored at a parents home and brought to school immediately before events. This is a huge commitment for any group.
So while the other school in the district has had a snack shack with refrigeration, sinks and equipment long before the new facilities were in the picture Gunn was running concessions from the girls bathroom sink with cold water. No one complained about Paly concession but can still question the inequity within the same district.
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 9, 2017 at 4:48 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 4:48 pm
@viking
yes of course girls games will be held in the large gym. The former girls gym is now called the "small" gym. In fact i believe the league game to be played in the large gym will be a girls volleyball game
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 9, 2017 at 4:49 pm
on Jun 9, 2017 at 4:49 pm
i should have said "first game to be played"
Old Palo Alto
on Jun 10, 2017 at 8:30 pm
on Jun 10, 2017 at 8:30 pm
Thank you Peery family for your generosity to our community.
Gunn High School
on Aug 14, 2017 at 1:32 pm
on Aug 14, 2017 at 1:32 pm
BOW GYM + TITAN GYM: 16 BADMINTON COURTS WITH FLOOR POSTS CORRECTLY POSITIONED TO FOLLOW CIF RULES
PEERY FAMILY GYM: 14 BADMINTON COURTS WITH FLOOR POSTS INCORRECTLY POSITIONED
Gunn High School
on Aug 14, 2017 at 3:41 pm
on Aug 14, 2017 at 3:41 pm
Re Coache,
My recollection is that the posts for the badminton courts at Gunn were also originally put in the wrong location like those now at Paly, and had to redo them to be compliant with the National and International rules/regulations. Having spent so much on the gym at Paly, why didn't they learn from Gunn's past mistake and get the court design correct, or is it that they have so much money that they weren't concerned. Did they not bother to really find out what the requirements were and just went with the opinion of someone who had no idea of what the sport of badminton is or requires.
By the way, Badminton is an Olympic Sport, and the first US Player to represent the US in Olympic competition was a Gunn graduate, Chris Jogis!
Go Gunn!!!
Palo Alto High School
on Aug 15, 2017 at 4:11 pm
on Aug 15, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Back in the 80's Paly dominated the league in Badminton. I can't remember how many league championships we won. I do remember being complete humiliated after baseball practice when I wondered into the gym, thinking I was hot S*#T and badminton was a nothing sport, and getting completely wiped off the court by a girl.
The old gym was awesome. Had some character. Would have made a great set for movies about the 40's. Ha!