Hagerstown marks halfway point in field house construction with 'topping-off' ceremony.

City officials called it a "monumental milestone" in the construction of Hagerstown's new field house, which has been taking shape at the site of the former Municipal Stadium on Memorial Boulevard.

They gathered Friday during a "topping off" ceremony to watch the final steel beam being placed in the frame of the new facility, but not before grabbing markers to sign the beam for posterity.

They also heard briefly from folks closest to the project.

"This place is designed to be an epicenter of community," said Bryan Schmidt, regional general manager for Eastern Sports Management, the firm that will operate the facility.

"It's going to affect the local community here," he added. "As Eastern Sports Management has operated these facilities and other communities, we see the lasting impacts. There's kids that will grow up in this facility that will later come back and work in the facility and participate as adults."

The facility is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The field house will include 120,000 square feet of courts for everything from basketball to soccer, locker rooms, eateries and meeting rooms.

Mark McCombs, senior project manager for building contractor Waynesboro Construction, noted construction was about halfway through — and that a "topping off" ceremony is a Scandinavian tradition that started as a religious one.

"They would typically put a tree on top of the tallest part of the structure to give back to the tree gods," he said.

Mayor Tekesha Martinez thanked former Mayor Emily Keller for "drawing the line in the sand with your high heel and saying 'this is going to be the tie and this will be the season we get things done.'

"As we stand here today to celebrate this, which is amazing for Hagerstown, but also amazing for us, I encourage you to remember what makes us great," Martinez said. "And that's when we do things together. That's when we love on each other, especially through hard times."

She added that families using the facility rather than traveling to others out of town will aid the city's economy.

After the speeches, everyone watched as the beam was fitted into the rest of the frame and two construction workers bolted it into place — to applause from the crowd.

The city awarded the construction contract to Waynesboro Construction last fall, and broke ground on the project last December. Total costs for the field house construction were estimated at nearly $26 million.

Schmidt said Eastern had hired a general manager for the facility and is starting pre-sales for memberships.

Hotter heat wave in Maryland: How hot could it get for Hagerstown, Salisbury, Ocean City this week?

Comings and goings: Meritus Health offers services in Valley Mall; Maleko Personnel expands to East Coast

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown marks halfway point in field house construction with 'topping-off' ceremony.