More money equals more problems for the LSU Athletic Department.
Bids returned for the new LSU baseball and softball complexes came back higher than anticipated, and Senior Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent said there is no timetable on how long it will be before lower bids are submitted.
“After the bids are submitted, then they’re reviewed by the Office of Facility Planning and Control and the architect,” Vincent said. “So we’re waiting on them to complete that review process so we can know what our options are.”
When the new complexes were announced at a press conference July 26, officials said construction was tentatively set for Nov. 1, 2006.
Athletic Department officials have told The Daily Reveille the bidding process for contractors and the state prioritizing hurricane rebuilding projects have caused the construction to fall behind schedule.
“We’re being pushed back a little bit, but it’s nothing that we can control,” Assistant Athletic Director Eddie Nunez told The Daily Reveille on March 19. “It’s better to be done the right way then to go ahead with something and it be done the wrong way.”
The Athletic Department set aside $24.52 million for construction of the new Alex Box Stadium. Buquet & LeBlanc Inc. returned the lowest bid for project Aprila 5, an amount $9.98 million over budget.
Woodrow Wilson Construction Co. Inc. returned the second-lowest bid at $36.64 million. The highest bid was $38.99 million from Arrighi Simoneaux.
The Athletic Department also allocated $6.97 million for a new Tiger Park, but the lowest base bid, returned in late February, totaled $12.58 million.
Vincent said the status of the new softball complex resembles that of the new Alex Box.
“It’s really the same thing we’re going to do with baseball,” he said. “Take a look at what our available funds are, and take a look at the scope of the project and see how we can make adjustments so we can have a quality softball stadium.”
Athletic Director Skip Bertman told The Advocate on April 10 that it is highly unlikely the amount of allocated funds for the baseball complex will be raised.
“Money was set aside in a bond,” Bertman said. “This is the amount of money that was set aside. Unless you borrow, that’s what you have to work with.”
The Tiger Athletic Foundation is contributing $4.2 million toward the construction of the new Alex Box. Bertman said if the stadium opens for the 2009 season without all the originally planned amenities, TAF could fund the additions in the future.
“For example, we could take paved parking out of phase one, and put it into a different phase,” he said. “The indoor cages would cost maybe $1 million. That’s something we might look at for later. Maybe we can look at a different type of roof.”
According to the Web site for the Office of Facility Planning and Control, construction of the new baseball facility will take approximately 560 days while building a new softball complex will take about 300 days.
Vincent said TAF will not contribute any funds for the new Tiger Park, which will be built on Skip Bertman Drive adjacent to the LSU soccer complex.
The new Alex Box will rest on the corner of Nicholson Drive and Gourrier Lane.
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]