New athletics and activities center to be ‘cornerstone’ of Our Lady Queen of Angels School

The new athletics and activities center at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School in Newport Beach is a project the school’s community and leaders have long hoped would come to fruition.

In fact, they’ve waited a little over two decades, according to Jennifer Lefebvre, director of advancement and admissions at the school.

Lefebvre said in an interview Friday that efforts to plan for what will be the 11,000-square-foot project began in 1998 when the Our Lady Queen of Angels — not the school, but the church — campaigned to build a new church. With that, Lefebvre said community members also envisioned the athletics and activities center for the school.

Construction began earlier this year, but Lefebvre said they couldn’t hold a celebratory groundbreaking ceremony due to the pandemic.

Instead, the school intends to hold a celebration this Sunday when they’ll place a cornerstone at the construction site to thank those who contributed to it.

The project is slated for completion in early 2022 and is expected to cost $6.8 million. Once finished, it will have a regulation basketball court, two volleyball courts, a performance stage, locker rooms, offices, restrooms, a concession stand and storage areas.

It’ll also include a lobby and plaza areas, officials said.

“I think the entire Our Lady Queen of Angels community is thrilled that it is literally being built after envisioning this for decades and now it’s happening,” said Lefebvre.

“The school community obviously has changed over the years and, so, we have a lot of new families that are really excited to have a gym and their students are there sometimes from kindergarten through eighth grade,” said Lefebvre. “So, they’re hoping they’ll have a long time to use the gym and have our sports.”

“Our sports were outside on the blacktop, so this is so exciting. We’ll be inside on a gym floor and have bleachers for our parents and loved ones that want to watch their students play,” said Lefebvre.

“We will have a place to go during rainy days for physical education activities and also our student council can plan pep rallies and our Christmas programs can be held on the stage. It’s been long awaited project,” she said.

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