By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
Bids are in for the skate park planned on a site in Hilltop Park off Bunn Drive in Princeton Township, officials said Monday.
The lowest bid received for the first phase of the project was $425,000 from Marvec Construction of Verona. The highest bid came in at $688,000, according to Recreation Department Executive Director Jack Roberts.
”We’re in pretty good shape, as far as the base bid,” Mr. Roberts said.
The eight-member Princeton Joint Recreation Board will meet on April 8 to officially recommend one of the contractors to the Princeton Township Committee, whose members will have the final say on the contract.
The bid numbers were quotes for the first portion of the project, which calls for the construction of the basic plaza, or streetscape of the skate park, according to Mr. Roberts.
”That is probably what 90-percent of the kids are interested in,” he said.
The second phase of the project, which has not yet been funded, calls for the building of what Mr. Roberts called a “bowl.” That feature is quite literally a concrete bowl and bids for that portion came in from a low of $170,000 to a high of $375,000, according to township officials.
That part of the project was added due to community input, with area residents asking for the feature to be included, in addition to the street course that will make up the majority of the skate park.
In total, there are around $426,000 in funding earmarked for the project. Those moneys came from a variety of sources, including both borough and township governing bodies and community fundraising efforts.
Princeton University also contributed $25,000 and Mercer County granted $200,000.
The planned site of the skate park in Hilltop Park on Bunn Drive is only a few kick-flips from the Princeton Community Village housing development.
”They’re pretty excited about the skate park,” said Mr. Roberts, of Princeton Community Village residents and the rest of the community.
While that may not be the most central of sites in Princeton, Mr. Roberts said it was a good site for the skate park. He noted it was easily accessible, and is located on a bus route.
Originally, the hope was for the project to be completed in a single phase, but the costs of the street course and the bowl combined necessitated the project be broken down into two phases, officials said.
Township officials said they hope to break ground around June 1, and complete the first phase by the fall of 2008.
