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Just off south Main Street in Brundidge, development is underway on a new athletic complex for Pike County High School.

The location of the complex is on the opposite side of South Main from Pike County High School, behind the old “shirt factory.” An access road will be built from South Main to the complex.

“We had this on the drawing board before COVID,” Pike County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Bazzell said. “We bid it out after COVID, but the prices were too high for us to afford it. Now that the prices have come down, we were able to bid the project out.”

Bazzell said the complex is being built on a 28 acre site owned by the school system. The complex will include a baseball field, softball field, soccer field and track as well as concession stands, restrooms and associated support buildings.

Bazzell said the project was divided into two phases. Phase 1 will include the baseball and softball fields. Bazzell said the baseball and softball fields are expected to be ready for use this spring. Phase II will include the soccer field and track with completion expected around the time school starts in the fall. Once all construction is complete, Bazzell said landscaping would be implemented and a three-lane access road would be paved. In addition, an existing parking lot next to the access road would be resurfaced and used for overflow parking for football games.

“We haven’t had on-campus fields since before I coached at Pike County High School in the 1980s,” Bazzell said. “It was just time for this to be done.”

Bazzell said the cost of the complex came in at $4.5 million. He said Phase 1 costs were around $3 million. Bazzell said the school system acted as the general contractor for Phase 1, which saved the system a substantial amount of money. Bazzell said Mike Johnson, the system’s maintenance and transportation supervisor, oversaw Phase 1. For Phase II, Bazzell said a general contractor would be needed to oversee building construction, but the Phase II cost would only be about $1.5 million.

“The important thing is we won’t be incurring any debt on Phase I,” Bazzell said. “We had the money set aside for Phase 1.”

Bazzell said the school system was in good shape financially and the new school at Banks was the last big construction project that had to be done for a while.

Bazzell said a project at Goshen High School will run concurrent with Phase II of the PCHS athletic complex. The old GHS gym will be renovated into an art complex that includes a stage, classrooms, a band room and an administrative suite.

Bazzell said once the projects at PCHS and GHS wrap up, there were some renovations needed at the football fields at Goshen and Pike County.