BHS athletic complex upgrades moving forward

Published 9:15 am Wednesday, March 14, 2018

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Design work is nearing completion on the Baldwin High School athletic complex, and just a couple months from now visible work is scheduled to begin. 

In November the Baldwin County Board of Education unanimously approved a guaranteed maximum price of more than $2.7 million to make upgrades to the area that houses fields and facilities for the high school’s baseball, softball, soccer and tennis programs. Officials with architectural firm Goodwyn Mills and Cawood (GMC) and Parrish Construction Group updated BOE members during their monthly work session held Monday. 

Travis Miller, a senior project manager with Parrish, told the board that bidding on the various projects will go out to subcontractors starting next month.

“As we’re finalizing the design and it progresses we’re going to get that out to subcontractors,” Miller said. “We should have a concrete number for y’all at about mid-April is what we’re shooting for.”

Construction is set to begin in May and last until December as crews are supposed to work around the school’s various athletic schedules. 

GMC architect Amy Bell reminded board members about the different projects to be done at each of the fields. She said the baseball field portion of the complex will get renovated dugouts, a new scoreboard, new batting cages, and new bleachers among other work. There are also drainage issues out in left field that have been targeted for repair. 

The softball field is getting a more complete overhaul with laser grading, sod and new fencing. An area of focus for both the baseball and softball fields has been the two buildings that serve as concessions, press box and restroom facilities. The baseball field house will be all-new and will include the addition of new locker rooms to serve both the Braves and visiting teams. A new softball field house has not been completely ruled out, but is only part of the alternate bidding process. If the alternate bid comes in too high, the softball field house will be renovated to update the facility. Miller told board members although softball field work will be complete by the time the season starts in August, the field house may not be depending on which option is taken.

“Depending on what option you take for that field house or the concessions and everything there, that might still have some work ongoing,” he said. “Obviously we can’t start in May and have a whole new building by August. That’s the only one that might have some complications, but the field is going to be ready for play.”

The four existing tennis courts at the BHS complex will be renovated to bring them up to standard and two more will be added to make the facility eligible to host matches. Also included in the design plans are laser grading and sod at the soccer field, new bleachers at the soccer field, and concrete sidewalks to make the various fields more accessible.