The Proviso East High School football stadium is a step closer to being demolished and eventually reconstructed.
During a special meeting on Dec. 14, the Proviso Township High School District 209 school board unanimously approved a $106,400 bid from Chicago-based National Wrecking to demolish the stadium. National Wrecking’s bid was the lowest among six bid proposals submitted to the district, said Joseph M. Slattery, a project executive for Gilbane Building Company, the district’s contract manager.
The demolition bid was tucked among six bid packages totaling $6,142,776 that Slattery presented for board approval at the Dec. 14 meeting. The bids, which range from the stadium demolition to electrical and mechanical work, are for construction related to the first phase facilities master plan.
Other first phase projects, some of which are already completed, include the relocation of student parking at East, parking lot repairs at Proviso Math and Science Academy, the installation of a commercial-grade culinary lab and new auto shop at East, and the installation of an Advanced Manufacturing Lab at Proviso West.
Slattery said the bid package that the board approved on Dec. 14 was $2,652,805 lower than what Gilbane had estimated.
“The market is very competitive right now, which is great,” he said. “You’re getting more bang for your buck right now,” adding that “contractors are hungry [due to the COVID-19 pandemic].”
Slattery said he’ll be back before the board in January to present even more construction bids for board approval. The estimated total cost of the entire bid package of remaining first phase facilities master plan work is estimated to be about $34 million, he said.
Michael Dolter, with Perkins and Will, the architectural firm hired to facilitate the construction projects, said in July that the football stadium will be demolished and reconstructed further east in order to make room for 118 parking spaces on campus and to allow for an improved running track, the installation of artificial turf on the football field and a large Pirate logo painted in the middle of the field. In addition, a separate building for concessions will be built near the stadium.
Dolter said that work on the stadium could start in early 2021, once the new auto shop at East is completed.
