Coaches to weigh in on concessions stand and bathrooms at baseball stadium

Similarly to the visitors side bleachers project, the Newton Community School District has scheduled user group meetings for the concessions stand and bathrooms project at the new Cardinal baseball stadium. The first meeting will take place in March, and the second meeting will be held in April.

The meetings will be attended by high school baseball coaches, representatives from the Dugout Club, the athletics director, maintenance supervisor and the superintendent of Newton Community School District. Rachelle Hines of FRK Architects + Engineers said the group feedback will be presented to the board.

The district’s architectural firm is expected provide the board with construction documents in June, and then let the project the following month. By July, the district will have received its bids from contractors, and then shortly after the school board will vote to award the lowest, responsible bidder.

Timeline projections show construction will last from anywhere between August and March 2026. Hines said the project should be wrapped up by April 2026.

In January, the Newton school board authorized the use of $800,000 in SAVE (Secured an Advanced Vision for Education) funds for the concessions stand and bathrooms project. The baseball field has utilized a concessions trailer and portable toilets in lieu of these facilities.

Estimated costs have increased. The construction costs alone are estimated at $760,000; The “soft costs” total $79,800 and include services like soil investigations and testings, surveys, professional fees and city/state plan review. In total, FRK Architects + Engineers estimates it will all cost $839,800.

However, the bids from contractors will determine the final costs.

“Not much has changed on the costing on this,” Hines said. “We’re probably going to look at doing this a similar construction method that we did over at the softball field, which would not include a bunch of steel and be mostly masonry, block walls and then we’d do a wood roof with shingles.”