Construction to start this fall on Maisey O’Donnell training center

Updated plans for a new training facility at the Beede Swim & Fitness Center envision a “memory wall” memorializing the achievements of the addition’s namesake diver.

“The idea is to be inspirational” for those who use the Maisey O’Donnell Dryland Training Center, architect Robert Pierce told town officials.

Acton officials signed off on the full plans, and crews are set to start construction this fall. 

O’Donnell was one of three Acton-Carlisle High School seniors who died from injuries suffered in an April 2025 car crash. Beede was her “home away from home,” her mother said.

“We thought that this was a very fitting way to honor her,” Betsy O’Donnell told the Planning Board.

The 1,300-square-foot, donor-funded facility will include a trampoline and other equipment that lets divers practice skills before trying them in the pool. 

The project is “pretty much ready to go,” Assistant Town Manager Jessica Porter told the Recreation Commission on September 21.

The O’Donnells plan to break ground during Thanksgiving weekend, “when Maisey’s friends will be home from college,” family friend and project supporter Lowell “Sandy” Smith told The Acton Bridge.

The work should take roughly six months, Smith said. That timeline sets up a spring 2027 opening — if the weather cooperates.

‘Incredibly beautiful’

Photos on a wall in the new facility could recount Maisey O’Donnell’s diving career, highlighted by two state Division I championships. One project illustration shows her proudly wearing a sweatshirt from Williams College, where she had planned to continue competing. 

Plans for the interior are “incredibly beautiful,” town Recreation Director Leigh Jackson said. 

This project, Betsy O’Donnell said, is something her daughter would love. 

Maisey’s family first presented training center plans to the Recreation Committee in summer 2025. They had hoped to finish the project in time for this Thanksgiving, but the timeline shifted as planning continued.

Maisey’s father, Christoph O’Donnell, thanked the hundreds of donors who contributed. “We would not be able to build this without all of your support,” he told the Planning Board over the summer.

The CCHS campus, which includes Beede, will be busy with construction: The O’Donnell project is set to overlap with work on a new amenities building at Memorial Field, Porter said.

Crews will shuffle parking and convert some paved parts of the Beede property into landscaped areas where stormwater can seep into the ground.

The project won’t result in any fewer spaces when it’s finished. 

“We’re just going to ask people to be as patient [with parking] as they can” during construction, Porter told the Recreation Commission.