DANVERS -- St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers announced Jan. 28 its plans to build a new 78,000-square-foot wellness center. The two-story building, which will be completed in the fall of 2017, will offer room for St. John's 20 interscholastic high school sports and nine interscholastic middle school sports.

In March, "we start construction on a brand new wellness center and break ground for a facility with an eight-lane pool, an indoor track, a four-court field house, and ample room to transform the education of our young men, and we are really proud that this is happening," said headmaster Edward Hardiman during an announcement ceremony.

The wellness center is part of the school's Prep 20/20 initiative, which also included the construction of a middle school for students in grades 6-8 and a new high school building, the Brother Keefe, CFX Academic Center. Both opened in September 2015.

As part of the wellness center project, Hardiman said that "we're also going to renovate Cronin stadium, put in a new synthetic turf field, new track, lights and new bleachers, and install a solar array that will power the wellness center during the day."

The entire project will cost around $24.9 million, although approximately 75 percent of that money was raised through gifts from members of the school community.

"We are deeply grateful for the level of generosity that is making the wellness center a reality. The Prep community has come together in an extraordinary way for the benefit of students now and for generations to come," Hardiman said in a statement.

St. John's Prep is a Xaverian Brothers sponsored school that serves male students from grades 6-12. Founded in 1907, it has served the community for over 100 years and currently enrolls approximately 1,450 young men.