The new home of the Hornell Red Raiders athletic teams is taking shape, with construction of the multi-purpose competition gymnasium on pace to open during the 2026-27 academic year.
The state-of-the-art gymnasium was the centerpiece of a $30.2 million capital project overwhelmingly approved by Hornell City School District voters in December 2023.
With a seating capacity of approximately 1,500, about three times that of the former A gym, the Maple City school system will be eligible to host major Sectional contests in its indoor facility for the first time.
The complex will include a new student fitness center and an elevated walking track open to the local community.
Support spaces will feature a new wrestling room, girls’ locker room, referee shower rooms, and a concession stand.
The gymnasium will also provide a venue for school-wide assemblies and large community gatherings.
The district’s initial timeline for the project anticipated its completion around the beginning of the 2026-27 winter sports seasons. That forecast proved to be too optimistic.
“Our initial goal was that we were going to have access to it in December, so we are behind in that, but the degree by which we’re behind is debatable at this point,” Hornell School Superintendent Jeremy Palotti said. “Fingers crossed that we’re able to get in there before the end of the winter season.”
In an exclusive interview with The Evening Tribune, the Hornell school chief provided the latest updates on the pace of the project, while outlining what hurdles have been cleared and what’s left to complete before the first games can take place in the shiny new facility.
Palotti also expressed regret and sadness about an accident last April that seriously injured an iron worker at the gymnasium construction site.
“You never want to have anything like that happen,” Palotti said. “When we meet with our contractors and meet with our construction teams, safety is always the first topic on the agenda.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the individual and his family.”
‘A’ gym demolished, steel goes up for new home of Red Raiders
The district broke ground last August, with the former A Gymnasium demolished. Steel arrived on the site in late fall and was hung over the following weeks, providing a visible representation of the size of the new building.
“There’s a lot of progress that’s being made, some visible from the outside, some not visible because it’s internal,” Palotti said. “The building structure, if you’ve been by, it’s in place, it’s erected. The steel work is in place. Masons are here working on the outside brick facade. Some of the finishes are going in.
“All of the framing has been done inside for the gym space, the locker room space, the bathrooms, the offices, the concession stands, that’s all been roughed in and framed. So there’s really nice progress.”
Palotti said the interior of the building, including floor, tile and tread work are being accomplished now.
“All the steel decking for the roof is in place, and the roofer will be here (the week of July 27) to start doing what they call ‘drying in’ the space, making it watertight. That’s a huge milestone that has to be met because once they’re able to do that, they’re really able to start moving forward with the other finishes on the inside.”
Progress expected in August includes enclosing gymnasium
Palotti said the concrete floor has been poured throughout the first level, and for the majority of the second level.
“The only thing that’s lacking on the second level is the walking track. That has been built. The steel structure and steel decking is in place, but the concrete hasn’t been poured,” Palotti said. “That job is expected to be done during the first week of August.
“Once that track is poured, they can begin the walls on the second floor that wrap around the building because they rest on top of the track. I would say by the end of August it really should feel enclosed which is a good thing. Once it’s enclosed, we can start looking at a lot of the finishes and the big gym area.”
Timeline for installing gymnasium floor, ‘Seneca Street Zoo’ bleachers
There are some important milestones on the way, including laying down the Red Raiders home court and moving the bleachers into place.
Construction officials are targeting a fall date for the gymnasium floor to be laid down. The design is expected to have Hornell-themed features, including a large “H” at center court.
Next up will be bleachers: ground zero for Hornell’s famous “Seneca Street Zoo.”
“It’s one of the last things that go in,” Palotti said. “There are two ship dates, presumably for one side then the other. The first ship date is the end of November. The second ship date is the second week in December. That means that we’re super close to having a finished product.”
Will Red Raiders winter sports squads be road warriors again?
With construction going full bore last winter, Hornell winter sports teams didn’t experience much home cooking during their 2025-26 campaigns.
Varsity wrestling and modified basketball utilized Hornell’s B gym, while girls’ volleyball used Alfred-Almond’s gymnasium as their home away from home.
Both boys and girls varsity basketball played their home games at the Alfred University McLane Center.
“It was neat in some ways to be able to play in a big venue like that on a college campus,” Palotti said. “There’s no doubt that it’s an inconvenience for the kids and for the parents. You also don’t have the connection of being home. Even though they were considered our home games, it really made every game that we had an away game.”
There will be more juggling this year, but how much depends on when the new complex gets cleared for use.
Once again, the Red Raiders volleyball squad will have its home games at Alfred-Almond.
“As far as the winter goes, we’ll look to do some of what we did last year,” Palotti said. “Our goal is to have the majority of the away games earlier in the season. By this fall, we’ll have an idea if getting in (the new gym) by January is a realistic target or not.
“Until we see the floor in and see some of these large milestones, we can’t totally commit to that.”
Palotti said getting the gym done right takes priority over the timing, although he would like to see Red Raider upperclassmen get a chance to compete in the new venue.
“At the end of the day, it really needs to be done right. The community has invested a significant amount of resources into it, so we do not want to cut corners,” Palotti said. “We want to bring it to completion and do it right, but we also want to do it expeditiously so kids this year, seniors in particular, do have an opportunity to be a part of it.”
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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: The latest on Hornell High School gym construction timeline, plans
Reporting by Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune / The Evening Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune | USA TODAY Network
