After months of wishing and planning, Athens City Council members accepted a $14.2-million bid from an Auburn company to build a new recreation center near the Sportsplex.

Dirt work will begin in about 60 days and the project is expected to take 14 months, said Athens Building Inspector Erik Waddell and Mayor Ronnie Marks.

City Council members voted 4-0 during their regular meeting Monday to accept the low bid of $14.2 million submitted by First Team Construction Co. of Auburn to build the 72,000-square-foot facility. The same company is building Athens Bible School. Councilman Joseph Cannon was out of town and could not attend the meeting.

Features of the new rec center include a main gymnasium, an auxiliary gym and what planners call a “flex gym” for free play and handball. The second floor will include an indoor walking track and a fitness room.

To the delight of the council and mayor, the $14.2-million bid will cover all seven of the city’s proposed alternates (upgrades suggested if there was enough money). Those alternates will include fixed and telescoping bleachers in the main gym, a multipurpose synthetic athletic field, tennis and volleyball courts, playground resurfacing and new playground equipment, wall graphics and design, a steel trellis at the main entrance and a sun shade structure.

Marks noted that in all of his years in government, he had never seen bids so close. He said there was only $27,400 difference between the lowest bidder and the highest bidder, Consolidated Construction of Huntsville. There was only $8 in difference between Consolidated and the bid from Bailey-Harris Construction of Auburn, the second-lowest of the three bidders.

Marks said that shows people want to work. He said he had been worried after the hurricane in North Carolina that steel and materials costs would go way up.

Pool cover to come?

The construction of the recreation center does not include a proposal to enclose the current city pool near the Sportsplex so it can be used year-round. A number of students, coaches and other resident who like to swim had urged the City Council to consider covering the existing pool as part of the recreation center plans.

On Monday, Marks said they knew enclosing the pool would blow the bid.

“From an administrative standpoint, let’s get well into this (rec center construction) and then relook at this option and bring it back to the table,” he said.

Sell old center

The current 20,000-square-foot rec center was built in 1977 is now too small to serve the growing city. The old recreation center may be sold to Athens City School for use as an athletic field house.

“Depending on the vote tonight,” Marks said during the pre-meeting work session, “we will be in immediate negotiations with the schools. We had it appraised at $950,000. In talking with the schools, their future plan was to look at it as an athletic field house, which they have a critical need for. The building has been well-maintained but it is 40 years old. Dr. (Trey) Holladay and the finance office are working on a payment plan. We will bring it back (before the council) as soon as we can.”

Marks said the sale of the building would offset some of the cost for the new rec center.

Related costs

Also during Monday’s meeting, council members agreed to let the mayor negotiate the fee for architectural services with architects Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood. Marks estimated the cost will be about 6 percent of the total construction costs, or about $900,000.

Council members also agreed to contract with Morell Engineering to provide construction materials testing and special inspection and engineering services.

In the coming weeks, council members will vote on various other costs related to constructing the recreation center, including landscaping, furnishings, fitness equipment, information technology data, a security system, owner and construction contingency (or change orders by the city or the contractor) and power contingency.

The mayor estimated these costs would be roughly $900,000. Marks told The News Courier those additional costs will bring the total project cost to roughly $16.2 million, which he said was a conservative estimate.

The council voted 5-0, with all members present, earlier this year to borrow $20 million to pay for three projects, including the recreation center, the cleanup of the former Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant site for future development and paying off the new pod of ballfields at the Sportsplex.