Decker Auditorium and the new Center for the Performing Arts are in their second year of renovation and construction. The $11.9 million project broke ground in August 2022.

The 50-year-old Decker Auditorium is undergoing a complete facelift with new seating, new lighting and a new sound system. This is the first time since it was built in 1978 that the 1,200-seat Decker Auditorium is undergoing any significant upgrades.

The need for updates to the auditorium has been apparent for many years, Iowa Central President Dr. Jesse Ulrich previously told The Messenger. It was part of the 2018 bond referendum, with $3 million earmarked for the project.

On the south end of the auditorium is the college’s new Center for the Performing Arts that will have a band room, theater room, expanded classroom spaces, a set shop and additional bathrooms. The whole space, including the auditorium, will be fully ADA accessible, something the current auditorium is not. ADA seating will be added, and there will be a ramp access to the stage. Previously, the stage was only accessible by steps.

The installation of an elevator will also add ADA accessibility to the second floor and balcony of the auditorium.

Last summer, the college’s Board of Trustees approved a bid from Sioux City-based Klinger Construction for $11,907,000. The project was designed by the Des Moines architecture firm OPN Architects.

Ryan Gruenberg, the college’s vice president of operations, said that despite a few delays here and there, the project is moving forward and he’s hoping it will wrap up just before winter, as long as everything else goes as planned and stays on schedule.

On Aug. 28, the first day of classes, Ulrich told The Messenger that the college plans to be able to christen the newly-remodeled Decker Auditorium with the music department’s Christmas concerts in December.

“Overall, we’ve been pretty satisfied,” Gruenberg said of the construction. “As with any building that age, there have been some hiccups along the way, but we’ve managed to get through those and we’re happy with where it’s at.”

In addition to the $3 million from the 2018 bond referendum, Don and Dianne Decker gave $1 million to go toward the project. Don Decker is a graduate of Iowa Central and chairman of the board of Decker Truck Line Inc. The Iowa Central Community College Foundation is running a capital campaign to raise the remaining funds needed to cover the project.

“This is probably the biggest project Iowa Central has really undertaken in the last 20 years,” Ulrich told The Messenger last summer. “This is the most public building we have on campus. It’s really, really important for us to get it right and it’s something that people will be proud of.”

Across campus, the new $2.5 million artificial turf practice field for the Triton football team is nearly complete, Gruenberg said. He said there was a “very slight” delay when materials were delayed a few weeks because of manufacturing, but the field’s almost ready for teams to begin using it.

Jensen Builders Ltd., of Fort Dodge, is the construction manager for the project. Mid America Sports Construction, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, installed the turf.

In addition to the Triton football team’s practices, the Triton men’s and women’s soccer teams will use the field for practices and games. It will also be used for intramural sports and other activities, Gruenberg said.

On the west side of U.S. Highway 169 across from campus is the site of the college’s future biofuels testing lab. That project is in its very early stages at this point, Gruenberg said. It is expected to be completed in August or September 2024. The 2018 bond referendum included $2 million for a new biofuels testing lab.

Down in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood, Iowa Central has its Crimmins Center, which houses the auto collision, cheerleading, cross country and track, dance team, diesel technology and soccer programs. Over the summer, that building underwent its own facelift with all new siding and a new roof.

“It looks like a completely different building now,” Gruenberg said. “It’s totally transformed.”