Wilson Area School District hires architect to explore stadium renovation

The Wilson Area School Board voted last Monday to hire an architectural and engineering firm to provide a preliminary design for stadium renovations, according to the acting superintendent.

The board agreed to hire EI Associates , with offices in Harrisburg and in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey.,

"We are in the very early stages of looking into a stadium renovation project," said acting Superintendent John Martuscelli. He's also the principal at the high school.

"If we move ahead with a project, we would be looking to commence construction during the summer of 2025," he said.

According to the school board agenda , EI Associates will get a fee of 8% of the project cost. That cost is estimated preliminarily at $6 million "just to get us started," Martuscelli said.

For context, the Easton Area School District spent $16 million for new bleachers, bathrooms, press boxes and a turf field at Cottingham Stadium in 2021. (The school board rejected a $20 million cost in 2019 , and engineers went back to the drawing board to bring down that cost.)

"We are hoping the final project will include a new track, which we desperately need, new bleachers and a new field. We will know more in a month or two," Martuscelli said.

Civil services for the Wilson Area project will be provided by Integrated Consulting, LLC.

Smith Field at 424 Warrior Lane has been the home of the Wilson Warriors since 1928, according to a story in the lehighvalleylive.com archives .

The grass field is named in memory of longtime school board member and borough businessman Howard M. Smith. It's the region's football field with the longest streak of uninterrupted use.