South Dearborn Athletic Facility Project Up for Re-Bid

The school board voted to reject the lone bid that came in during the initial bidding phase.

Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Aurora, Ind.) - South Dearborn's proposed athletic facility upgrade is running behind schedule. 

The school board voted 5-2 at their December meeting to re-bid the project to build a 9,300 square feet facility at Backman Field.

Plans include new locker rooms, concession stands, coaches offices, public restrooms, and more. Additionally, the school corporation would like to upgrade the bleachers, press box, and add an access road. 

Batesville-based Bruns-Gutzwiller was the lone bidder during the initial bidding phase. They bid $5.7 million on the project, which comes in over the school corporation's budget of $5 million. 

Because of that, several features to the building and access road would have to be eliminated including AC in the locker rooms, and construction of a new press box and bleachers. 

A majority of school board members were not willing to accept the initial bid due to the amount of features that would need to be cut. 

The re-bidding process comes with some risk. There is a chance zero bids come through, which would further push the project back. The hope is to receive more "competitive" bids near the $5 million budget the school corporation has for the project. 

It is likely that re-bidding is opened up in February or early March. 

The project is expected to take anywhere from 8 to 12 months to complete, which could impact outdoor sport seasons this year and next depending on when construction is able to begin. 

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/southdearbornschools.

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