Construction to revitalize Nunley Stadium
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The improvements are part of a continuing renovation program under way on the middle school campus. The stadium’s bleachers were renovated last summer and the school’s auditorium is currently being refurbished.
With demolition beginning Wednesday, the newest stadium improvements will feature a new, two-story press box to be centered on the 50-yard line. Plans call for the lower floor to house a new concession stand, as well as a storage room and a hospitality room. The upper floor will contain two coaches rooms, two rooms for radio broadcasts, one filming room and a public address room.
Additional stadium renovation plans call for crowd control fencing and a renovation of the home side restrooms, including the addition of more female restroom fixtures as required by the state’s “potty parity” law.
At $492,725, low bid for the project was submitted by Tri-State Development.
Tri-State owner Keith Bouldin said he is hopeful graduation ceremonies set for May 14 at the stadium will not be disrupted by construction. “We’re running a tight schedule. They said they’d shoot me if I didn’t have the lights turned back on for graduation,” he said with a laugh.
In other school system improvements, the school board approved a low bid of $278,980 received from Anderson Piping of Nashville for a chiller replacement at Warren County High School.
According to school maintenance director Donnie Caldwell, the two chillers being replaced are not faulty, but rather are undersized for the building’s square footage.
“This is something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” he said. “The ones that were put in there when the school was built just can’t handle the load.”
The new chillers will have near double the capacity – about 500 tons – of the old ones. “That’s still not at full capacity for the building, but it’s as much as you can get in with the electrical system we have,” he said.
In addition to making the building more comfortable during the warmer months, the new chillers will decrease the mildew in the building and improve the school’s indoor air quality.
Caldwell said the old chillers will probably be put to use elsewhere in the school system, possibly in a proposed new school at Centertown and the gym at Bobby Ray Elementary.