Park Board opens bids for new pickleball courts

Bids were opened for the new pickleball courts to be constructed this summer in Centennial Park.

On Monday, Park Superintendent Mike Hite told park board members he only had one bid by noon, but within an hour of the meeting, he received five more bids for the project.

All six bids were opened and read allowed during the meeting.  Bids were from:

Mullets Fencing & Supply from Plymouth.  Their bid was $56,146.04 and appeared to only be for the fencing portion of the project.

R. Yoder Construction Inc. of Nappanee presented a bid of $228,900 and Thomas Excavating of Culver had a bid of $239,221.  Almac Sotebeer from Elkhart presented a bid of $271,383 while Brown & Brown General Contractors from Wakarusa offered a bid of $227,500.  The final bid came from The Robert Henry Corp. out of South Bend.

The project is for the construction of 6-pickleball courts that will be located immediately to the west of Freymen Shelter as part of the Hunter Tennis Complex.  The park has budgeted $225,000 for construction of this project. 

Superintendent Hite asked to have the bids taken under advisement for the Troyer Group to review.  Hite was also given permission to award the bid to the lowest and most responsive bid before the April meeting. 

Hite said the park will coordinate with the Plymouth High School Girls Tennis Team as construction will begin in late March or early April.