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A former car wash facility in Downtown Edison Park was recently converted into a practice and training facility for the Notre Dame Wrestling Club.

“A lot of former wrestlers have come back and helped us get the facility ready,” said the club’s program director, Mike Ferri.

The 4,800-square-foot building at 6649 N. Oliphant Ave. had been targeted for demolition, but community opposition halted a plan to build a 30-unit condominium building and parking garage there. A hand car wash on the site closed last year.

The club, which was founded about 25 years ago, serves children in kindergarten through eighth grade, and while the club is considered a feeder program for Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, members enroll at a variety of suburban and city high schools, Ferri said.

The club previously held practices at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines.

The Notre Dame wrestling team plans to hold practices at the facility on Oliphant. Its varsity head coach, Michael Rosengrant, also is the head coach at for the club.

The Edison Park Chamber of Commerce and Alderman Anthony Napolitano (41st) plan to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. “It was kind of an open area. There wasn’t a lot to tear down. Maybe just some hoses that were hanging,” Ferri said. “That’s why we rented it.”

More information on the club is available at www.ndwrestlingclub.com.

















