PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Parks Commission has endorsed a designer for Wahconah Park's revitalization.

During a special meeting on Wednesday, the panel voted to hire S3 Design Inc. of Braintree for the restoration or rebuild of Pittsfield's historic baseball park. The owner's project manager will now negotiate a scope of work and price proposal before a contract is signed.

A subcommittee tasked with designer selection unanimously voted to recommend the firm last week after a request for proposals generated four responses.

"They stood out significantly from the others in a couple of ways," Commissioner Anthony DeMartino said.

He said the firm gave an "extraordinarily better review" of the park's history, very good ideas for additional revenue streams, an option to analyze seating capacity needs, and impressive ideas on potential design.

"The scope of their projects are sports facilities only that are not mega projects. They're looking at projects that this is the right size and fit for them. This is kind of their niche," he said.

"They are currently engaged locally at Bousquet Sports facility, they're working and doing that design, and their engineering firm is also local, that's (EDM Architecture, Engineering and Management of Pittsfield.) They work directly with a Pittsfield-based engineering firm so we felt that local connection to the community in addition to their skill was it was another positive but all those things together, and especially the proposed way that they would look at engaging the community and forming a consensus into whatever design is planned really separated them from the others."

S3 Design was selected as the number one choice out of three interviewed firms.

The process required the subcommittee to rank them. Clough, Harbour & Associates came in second and Bargmann Hendrie and Archetype Inc. was third.

"A request for proposals was submitted with very specific design requirements," DeMartino explained. "Particularly in regards to athletic fields, work with historic areas, as well as work with conservation commissions and water issues."

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath pointed out that the city has worked with SLR Consulting, which is part of the firm's design team, and has been very satisfied with its work.

"They are very qualified when it comes to environmental review and permitting and during the presentation, they were very sensitive to the permitting concerns and really understood that some of these permits that may be required at this site have a very long lead time," he said about the selected firm.  

"So they were already thinking about how do we sort of get around this extensive permitting by sort of proposing a design which works for us but which minimizes the permitting delays that we might see otherwise. So that was very encouraging to hear."

McGrath added that the city has been happy with the work of EDM in the past, which is another plus to the proposal.

Mayor Linda Tyer reviewed the subcommittee's recommendation and sent a positive endorsement to the full commission.

Efforts to revive Wahconah Park officially began over the summer with the establishment of the advisory committee in June. In April it was announced that grandstand seating would not be available this year because the steel structure was compromised.

After a structural evaluation in late 2021 of the facility that revealed concerns, the city hired a structural engineer and architect to look at it more comprehensively. Their recommendation was for the grandstand to be closed for this season.

Early this year, the panel had its first public meeting with the owner's project manager Skanska USA, who was hired out of three responses to a request for services issued in the fall.

The team envisioned that the design would be complete by February or March of next year, and bidding and work could begin by August 2024 after the Pittsfield Sun's season. This would mean a ballpark would be ready for use by the summer of 2025.

The city is working with an earmarked $3 million that was secured by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and $2 million that was appropriated through the last capital budget cycle by the City Council.

S3 estimated that the project will cost $10 million to $15 million.

It is still unclear if the park will be razed or rebuilt. Planners say that will depend on the results of a feasibility study.

The designer firms were asked to address a number of topics in their presentations.

The questions included:

• From your experience will the cost of your firm's services differ significantly if the project is a rehabilitation versus new construction?
   
• Given what you know about Wahconah Park, its history, and the financial constraints of the city of Pittsfield, can you provide a range of potential construction costs for the base scope grandstand and associated amenities and parking lot drainage issues?  We understand that there is much work to be done to estimate actual cost but based upon your experience on other projects, please offer an order of magnitude and range of potential costs.
   
• Can you provide your initial thoughts on how the project will help provide additional uses and revenue streams other than baseball?
   
• Do you see any ways to increase the seating capacity of the facility?
   
• How do you envision the future appearance of the facility, and more specifically the grandstand, to make it more attractive and honor its historic nature? Please note that the committee does not consider the current asbestos-containing and metal panels to be historic nor good-looking.
   
• Can you offer any initial thoughts and how your design will address and improve parking lot flooding issues, given the adjacent river and floodplain?
   
• Please describe what your team thinks the most difficult aspect of this project is and how your team will resolve these issues.
   
• Please comment on the schedule provided in the request for proposal. Do you think it's reasonable and achievable? And are there any changes you would recommend?

The subcommittee also asked candidates to discuss their plan to engage the community and stakeholders to build a consensus around the plans and to describe their attention and experience in dealing with the Historic Commission.

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