VW Bd. hears about Phase II of project

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Phase II of the Eggerss Stadium renovation project could begin as soon as next week.

The second phase was the topic of a Wednesday work session by the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education. The meeting was scheduled a week after Superintendent Mark Bagley received the second phase proposal from Alexander & Bebout and after the stadium committee met to review the material. Bagley said he then met with Treasurer Troy Bowersock and Assistant Superintendent Bob Priest to discuss what would be realistic in Phase II of the project.

“Originally we thought we could get this done in three phases but that’s just not realistic with inflation of 20-40 percent,” Bagley stated. “The unknown that was always out there was the concrete restoration and that was obviously a lot more than we anticipated. Our whole philosophy from the start was to make sure each phase was done right and to get something really important completed and tied down.

As we went through that we started looking at what’s the best bang for our buck,” he added.

According to Bagley, Phase II will include all concrete underneath the home side of the stadium.

“We want to make sure that surface is even and make sure there’s no stones kicked out on the brand new concrete,” Bagley explained. “The whole underneath will be tied in. It’ll be tied in under the steps, it’ll be tied in to the ramp, it’s going to be all concrete.”

Phase II will also include new men’s and women’s restrooms and an elevator to a new press box and the handicapped accessible landing in front of the press box. He also said a concession stand is part of the plan, while keeping existing concession stands for now, for flexibility.

“The new concession stand on the west wall will have a lot of different expensive equipment in there and we expect to have lots of people use our stadium for a variety of things,” Bagley said. “We want to make sure, at least for the time being, that we have other options for concessions until the south end zone gets built up.”

Bagley said the estimated cost of Phase II is $2 million, but he’ll have a more firm number by the March 27 regular board meeting.

“We’re still negotiating some different prices,” he said. “They can start as soon as Monday and we have about five months – the completion date is August 15, which is very close to a scrimmage on the 16th and the first home game on August 23.”

Phase III of the project will focus primarily on locker rooms.

Phase I of the Eggerss Stadium renovation project began last spring and went on up to the start of the 2023 football season. It included the previously mentioned concrete restoration, a refurbished Cougar Pride Wall, wider steps and hand rails, a brighter shade of paint, a renovated scoreboard and the installation of artificial turf.

“Phase I was more like Phase I and a half because we never expected to do anything with the wall and we never expected to do anything with the scoreboard,” Bagley said. “We actually did more in Phase I than we initially anticipated but it really made sense based on when the concrete restoration company was here, when the painters were here and we could do it all at the same time so we weren’t doing duplicate things.”

Voters approved a bond issue in May of 2022 to help cover the cost of the massive overhaul of the stadium.