Work to the Hollinger Grandstands will be addressed at tomorrow’s council meeting.
City staff is recommending that council award Praztek Construction the $657,900 upgrade. The project will restore the 1950’s grandstands to maintain its cultural and heritage features. The work will include:
- replacing most of the wood siding and seats
- adding support to the roof to address snow loads
- sand blasting and painting the metal beams supporting the roof to remove corrosive rust
The city says whatever wood that can be saved will be and in order to maintain the current look and feel of the structure, the same wood treatment will be used. This means any rotting wood will be replaced with Spruce and Douglas Fir.
This cost of the project is higher than the originally budgeted $499,500, which includes $149,850 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Staff is suggesting that $140,000 that was set aside for the Archie Dillon Sportsplex dehumidifier project could be used on the grandstands instead. City Hall says that project isn’t happening this year because the only bid that came in was higher than the budget.
EACOM has also recently committed $10,000 in funding for the grandstands, making the entire project’s shortfall about $8,400.
Council will discuss the report at City Hall tomorrow starting at 6:00pm.