Players on Gorham High School’s tennis team will see four totally new courts when classes resume next week.

“The courts are striped for tennis only, no pickleball or other court sports are on them,” Gorham Recreation Director Cindy Hazelton told Westbrook-Gorham Now in an email on Aug. 18.

Tom Poirier, Gorham community development director, said Tuesday the cost of constructing the courts was about $200,000. In a November referendum last year, voters rejected borrowing $2.5 million plus an estimated $839,531 in interest in a plan then to relocate the cracked and decaying courts. A School Department plan was to move the courts away from the cramped high school campus on Morrill Avenue in the town village to the middle school campus on Weeks Road.

The plan for the middle school site was to build six tennis courts that included courts for pickleball, Superintendent Heather Perry said in an email Wednesday to Westbrook-Gorham Now.

Following the failed referendum, the town government stepped forward with a construction plan that kept tennis courts at the high school.

The project was paid for through the town’s capital improvement funds. “The School Department didn’t commit any funds to the completion of the project,” Perry said in an email last week. “It was done on the municipal side.”

Public Works Director Terry Deering was named the project manager and several other entities collaborated to turn the tennis court project at the high school into reality. Lee Pratt, controller at Shaw Brothers Construction, said it was responsible for finish grading and paving. Other companies involved included Beaverbrook Tennis and Gorham Fence.

“The work completed at Gorham High School tennis courts this summer has been greatly appreciated by the Gorham tennis community,” Hazelton said.

The courts will serve the general public, but Gorham schools’ teams have first dibs on playing time there, followed by University of Southern Maine teams, Gorham Recreation tennis programs and citizens. Perry said Gorham school and university schedules would be posted at the courts.

“The Gorham (School District) is thrilled with the recent collaboration with the town of Gorham to complete a renovation of our community’s tennis courts,” Perry said. “With this work, our students can now use these courts regularly, our collaborations with USM and their tennis program can continue, the incredible tennis programs offered by our Recreation Department can continue and our community will get back the use of these courts.”