Tennis facility set to reopen in Oct.

Improvements nearly complete after almost six-month delay

Replacing the exterior of the bubble, which is made of 70,000 square feet of polyester fabric, should be completed in about a week, after problems with strong winds and a bees nest found inside the building late last year delayed the project, said Parviz Izadjoo, a project manager with Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which runs the facility, located off Orebaugh Avenue.

Izadjoo said construction on the project, which began in July 2007, was sent "back to square one" after the weather issues and the contractor for the project, M&M Adams, who had been based in Perry Hall, Md., filed for bankruptcy earlier this year for reasons unrelated to the project.

Florida-based Curtis Structures was hired to complete the project. The company had originally been hired as a subcontractor on the project and is one of the few companies in the country capable of working with the steel structures and fabric used on the exterior of the facility, Izadjoo said.

Once the exterior is finished, work on interior lighting and installation of an air conditioning system can begin. The project should be completed by late October, Izadjoo said.

Improvement of the facility was overdue, said Mary Ellen Venzke, division chief of management services for the Montgomery County Department of Parks.

"The old one was deteriorating," she said. "It was well beyond its life cycle and we had to replace it."

Izadjoo said the old fabric that covered the facility had collected mildew and did a poor job of insulating the interior from the weather. It was supposed to last about 15 years and had already gone 18 years without being replaced. The new fabric has a weather-resistant coating that should allow it to last up to 25 years.

The floor of the facility is 300-by-120 feet and includes six courts, all of which will retain their hard surfaces. They will be refinished, however, and will have a blue surface instead of green to meet United States Tennis Association regulations, Izadjoo said.

The entire project will cost about $1.8 million, the original estimate, Venzke said.

Other improvements to the facility will be brighter, fluorescent lighting and the facility's first air conditioning system, as well as an improved heating system.

"We have more control over the lighting now," Izadjoo said. "The greatest advantage of fluorescent is as soon as you turn it on, it goes on immediately."

Previously, temperatures in the facility would get as low as 40 degrees in the winter and as high as 95 degrees in the summer, said Karen Warnick, acting regional operations manager for the enterprise division of the parks department.

She said improvements will help the Wheaton facility match the customer usage of another indoor county tennis facility, the Pauline Betz Addie Tennis Center at Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda.

"Wheaton has struggled for its niche in the market but with improved lighting, better heating and [air conditioning], people will come to Wheaton and really enjoy it," Warnick said.

The Cabin John facility offers about 530 court hours between September and April. Courts there are used about 95 percent of the time. She said the Wheaton facility had a lower percentage of reservations, but in the past that space was filled by a partnership with the Montgomery County Tennis Association, which runs indoor leagues in the county. She expects a similar partnership when the facility reopens.

Future improvements are planned for the facility as well. Plans for a pro shop, administrative offices and a spectator area have been approved. Venzke said $1.9 million has been set aside, beginning in fiscal 2011, in the county's Capital Improvements Program.

That project should be complete in fiscal 2013.