Bids for phase two of athletic facility upgrades at WHS rejected (Audio)

June 12, 2023
Mike Tanner

WATERTOWN, S.D.–The timeline for completing athletic facility upgrades at Watertown High School will be pushed back after the school board rejected bids on phase two of the project Monday night.

Phase two includes a 3,000 seat home team grandstand on the west side of the new artificial turf football field, plus a fieldhouse, plaza area, bathrooms, lighting and ticket booth.

Two bids were submitted. The low bidder was Gray Construction of Watertown at $10.6 million. The second bid came in at $11.1 million.

Jason Kann of Co-Op Architects called the bids, “fairly disappointing and several million dollars over budget.”

He says they’ll need to hit the re-set button on phase two now, and look at making another run at bidding in the fall…

Kann says there were several components in the phase two bid that came in over budget, namely concrete, which he says was double the estimate….

Phase one of the project is just about finished. That included a rebuilt Allen Mitchell Field track, the new artificial turf football field, and visiting team grandstands on the east side of the new football field, which is just north of the high school.