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AUBURN, Mass. – The construction of the Auburn High School press box is "closer now than ever before," an official said.
Joe Hamel, member of the town’s cable committee, said the structure will be going up within two weeks, which will be followed by Bay Path High School students coming in to do the construction.
“This is getting closer and closer,” Hamel said. “They always say in that home improvement movie, not the TV show, that it’s going to be done in two weeks but it ends up taking forever. Well, this time we are definitely less than two weeks away from starting it.”
After getting bids in August for the press box project that were too high, the school district decided Bay Path students, after all, could build the box at a much lower price. The press box initially was supposed to be built by Bay Path last fall before that plan fell through.
Then, the committee opened the bidding to contractors. No bids were received in June, the sole bid in July was rejected and all four August bids were more than what was budgeted. Hamel said the cost of the lowest bid, $138,000 for a $55,000 budget, was “not going to work very well.”
“The price per square foot was way too high,” Hamel said. “When this is all said and done, it will be all good with the budget.”
Plans call for an 8-by-24-foot press box with wings on either side for camera platforms, in addition to a cupola and a wheelchair lift. The local cable company will be able to use the box to broadcast football games live.
In addition, Hamel said the Department of Public Works will have experienced carpenters helping the Bay Path students with the project.
“It’s a tremendous help from the DPW,” Hamel said. “We really appreciate all of their help.”
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