Brian Alessandro, a former track and cross-country coach at Highlands High School, has been using the Tower Park Athletic Complex since 1992.
That year, as a 7th grader at Highlands Middle School, Alessandro said he scored his first junior varsity goal for the Bluebirds junior varsity soccer team. As a runner, Alessandro participated in countless training sessions as a cross-country team member.
“I ran a lot of races, scored a lot of goals, struggled through track workouts and formed friendships at this facility like many Highlands alumni long before,” Alessandro said.
In 2012, he returned to Highlands as the head coach of the boys’ and girls’ cross country and girls’ track and field teams. Alessandro used the facility to train countless regional and state championship level athletes.
Now, the Tower Park Athletic Complex is undergoing a serious revamp, transforming it into one of the most modern athletic facilities for a public school system in Northern Kentucky. Alessandro said the project will be “one of the finest athletic facilities in the state.”
On Thursday, the City of Fort Thomas hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of the project’s construction.
“This project is a wonderful example of the power of a community working together to create new opportunities for students and positively impact an entire region,” Fort Thomas Independent Schools Superintendent Brian Robinson said.
One of the project’s most prominent features is Highlands’ new soccer field, which includes new synthetic turf, resurfaced and expanded track lanes, and upgraded seating options. Above the field will be a brick fieldhouse where student-athletes and coaches will train. Another aspect of the project includes a larger parking lot that planners think will facilitate smoother access routes in and out of the facility.
The project is estimated to be completed by the summer of 2025, according to a pamphlet distributed at the ceremony.
The facility transformation is part of a broader revamp of Tower Park. Earlier in the summer, it received $3.6 million worth of upgrades, including the installation of new playground equipment, signage, ADA-compliant walkways, and a decorative stone wall entranceway.
Earlier this year, the Commonwealth of Kentucky announced that the City of Fort Thomas would receive $5 million for the project as part of the state’s biennial budget.
State Rep. Mike Clines, whose district includes Fort Thomas, said the project became a top priority for him in Frankfort.
“This athletic complex had a legitimate need and became a legitimate project and developed a legitimate partnership, and we in the General Assembly are proud to be a measure of that partnership,” Clines said.