Despite hopes that the Strong Center at the Surf Club would be finished by the start of this year, issues with the final steps of the project threw a wrench in the plan. With a new goal of finishing the project this summer, the town is now looking for a new contractor to complete the center’s final components.

The center, which has been in the works for years, is designed to serve as a football field for high school and potentially college games, as well as soccer, lacrosse, and softball. It is also envisioned as a performance arts facility for music, theater, and dance.

Project construction was broken out into two phases. Phase I of the project included the replacement of the former grass football field with an artificial turf field and installation of the scoreboard, flagpoles, lighting, and bleachers with seating for 2,000. Phase II of the project includes a planned plaza and two field houses.

Phase II of the project is the source of the hold up. Back in 2016 the town secured a STEAP grant for $500,000 to complete the field houses and went out to bid for a contractor. First Selectman Tom Banisch said there was only one bid on the project and a few weeks ago the town decided the contractor could not complete the project.

With the money for the project coming in the form of a state grant, there are specific contractor requirements that must be met, according to Director of Engineering Services Mike Ott.

“In simple terms, state and federal monies come with conditions and certain requirements and unfortunately this bidder was not able to meet those requirements,” he said.

Considering the relatively low price point of the construction, Banisch said it has been difficult to find a contractor willing to take on the project.

“It is a small job for state contractor-type companies—they are doing $10 million jobs and this is a $500,000 job and with the understanding from the beginning that we have $500,000, not $500,001,” he said. “We are coming in under budget on this or we are not doing it.”

The town is currently in the process of re-bidding the project and Banisch said he hopes to have the project completed by summer. Despite the delay, Ott said it is very unlikely the town would lose the grant award.

The field houses and the entrance plaza are the last two elements of the whole project. While the town works to secure a new contractor for the field houses, Duo Dickinson, a Strong Center Project Board member and the architect for the project, said the board is currently receiving bids for the completion of the entrance plaza.

“We are pretty confident that we have the room to value engineer [the entrance plaza] into something that will be lovely and will fit the money we have,” he said.

The entrance plaza will include a gate; three stone pillars for gold, silver, and bronze sponsor plaques; and 325 engraved granite plaza stones. Additionally the site will include several park benches, a Champions Walk from the home field house to the field, and a memorial garden. Dickinson said a majority of the materials for the entrance plaza, such as the granite stones and benches, have already been secured.

“In a way we have taken care of the most difficult aspects,” he said. “It is really paving and lights and lighting.”

Dickinson said the board is still fundraising for the center. Despite the project’s lengthy timeline, he, too, said he hopes to see the center completed this summer.

“This has been such a long haul that we would have loved to have the whole thing done two years ago, but the timeline now would be that the buildings have to go up first and then the plaza follows,” he said. “Our goal is to have everything completely done for kick-off in September.”