Wheelock Stadium renovations continue

The Board of Trustees of the Riverside Community College District discussed the football field and track renovation project May 2.

Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning and Development Hussain Agah and Interim Vice President of Business Services Danny Villanueva provided information on the current status of the renovation via presentation and what is still needed to be completed.

“The field had many structural and draining issues, so the field became unusable,” Villanueva said. “The renovation of the field itself is a result of modernization updates and safety that needed to be done.”

The turf material, water drainages and bleacher seating started to deteriorate and become hazardous for students and staff to practice on.

The Trustees funded the project with $7,700,000 and planned for construction to begin in early May and expected to finish in time for the fall semester.

“One of the challenges that we have is a time crunch between now and the next school year,” Agah said. “Our goal is to finish the project by the first or second week of August, in time for the football season at RCC.”

The general contractor, Los Angeles Engineering Inc. superintendent, Jario Rodriguez also attended the Board meeting. He said that the project will take about 104 calendar days from May 1.

“The idea was presented to us around April of last year and when we got onboard with the renovation, we started working at the beginning of this month,”

Rodriguez said.

The renovation consists of two separate projects. Rodriguez explained they would finish the repair of the football field and running track first.

The second project would be the “Wheelock Grandstand Seating Repair Project.” The college reported the grandstands being a safety hazard in February of this year and closed off the stands in early March. The rooms below the grandstand experienced severe water intrusions during heavy rainstorms.

Rodriguez stated that the project for the Wheelock seating repair is expected to finish by November of 2023.

Within three months of completing the first project, there will be temporary bleacher seating placed on each sideline of the field during football season.