Located off of the coast of California on Catalina Island, the city of Avalon is a small, low-population city with high expectations. The 4,000 sports-minded residents all currently share one natural grass, multipurpose recreational playing area: Joe Machado Field. With the high level of usage, the city has decided to convert the field from natural grass to synthetic turf with organic infill and has contracted Hellas Construction for the job.
“[Joe Machado Field] is the only recreational field that we have,” said David Hart, City of Avalon Recreation Assistant. “It runs our 8-man football, high school boys and girls soccer, adult softball leagues, adult flag football, co-ed softball…it’s the only place that we have and with a regular field there was no way that we could keep up with daily access for everything. [Synthetic turf] is going to allow us to open up the field for daily recreation.”
City officials saw the need for a low-maintenance, dependable playing surface, and knew that Hellas was the only team that could get the job done. “Hellas does it all, from head to toe, from dirt to turf,” said Hart.
Hellas’ teams are working on the perfect Design-Build plans to maximize the space and use of the field. The current natural grass field will be converted to a Matrix® synthetic turf field with Helix technology field, marked for a variety of sporting events. Hellas’ exclusive Matrix turf system will allow for a predictable surface with maximum, year-round playability, and will require little maintenance from the city.
“With the drought conditions that are going on in Cali we couldn’t upkeep the field. With being used 11,000 hours a year, it’s hard to keep grass alive. Now, we’ll be able to triple our programing, which was our number one reasoning in going to synthetic turf,” said Hart.
Geo Plus organic infill for artificial turf, composed of organic coconut fibers and cork, will also be installed on the field. The option to install organic infill was a big draw when the city chose Hellas for the Design-Build sports construction project. “The fact that we’re going all organic is huge environmentally for us,” said Hart. Geo Plus is the next best thing to natural grass, offering reduced field temperatures and reducing the need for water by more than 90%.
The City of Avalon is one of the many project installations to utilize the benefits of Geo Plus organic infill. Other recent notable installations of Geo Plus include Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, CA, Robert F. Kennedy High School in Delano, CA, and Jourdanton High School in Jourdanton, TX.
About Hellas Construction Headquartered in Austin, TX, Hellas Construction, Inc. is one of the largest sports construction contractors in the United States. While specializing in the general construction of sports facilities and synthetic surfaces, Hellas also champions innovative artificial turf manufacturing, base construction, field, track and tennis planning, installation and maintenance. To learn more about Hellas Construction, visit hellasconstruction.com.