Spanish River Athletic Fields and Recreation Complex on fast track

Under budget and ahead of schedule
 

SouthFloridaSunrise.com Staff report

June 15--The new athletic fields recreation complex being built on Spanish River Boulevard across from the library is coming in under budget and ahead of schedule. The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District is developing and will operate the project on about sixty acres of City land.

Budgeted by the District for the last several years at around $14.5 million, bids were received substantially below that cost. Even with a revised contingency budget, the complex of eight 'diamonds and rectangles' should come in at $12 million. And that includes a 20 acre lake and pathways that will lead under Spanish River Boulevard to the Library and Pond Hawk Nature Preserve.

At its last meeting, District Counsel and project manager Arthur Koski reported that the project could very well beat the contracted 11 month schedule by several months. With any cooperation from the summer weather, the park could even open in 7 months by the end of 2011.

"There's been excellent cooperation between the District, the City, and Kaufman Lynn, the contractor for the project," reported Mr. Koski. "This is essentially an earth-moving project, and we hope to complete most of that work by the end of the summer with the usual summer rains taken into account."

"We should have the basic grading of the site done in July, and then lay in the underground electric and water utility lines during the next two months," he went on to report to the Commissioners.

Once that work is done, construction can move pretty quickly on the surface components of the project: roads, parking and pathways, the fields and lights, and two small buildings to service the fields. The balance of the complex will be completed with xeriscape landscaping.