Construction at Bob Jones Stadium continues

Construction at Bob Jones Stadium at Fort Mill High is coming along slowly but surely.

The construction is phase two of three taking place at the stadium, named for the late football coach, administrator and school board member Bob Jones. The first phase of the project was putting down a new playing surface before last season.

This phase is renovating the stadium for $3 million. Phase three will be to build a new locker room and bathrooms, along with a new concession stand, for roughly $1.5 million.

“Renovating something isn’t as cost affective as starting from scratch,” said Jim Britton, program director for Cumming Construction Management.

The stadium is undergoing renovations to the existing locker rooms, adding an officials’ locker room as well as a bathroom. Construction crews are also upgrading handicap accessibility, revamping the outside appearance of the stadium and working on the press box as well.

Britton said phase three will begin after football season and should be complete by next summer. Fort Mill High principal Dee Christopher said he is confident that the stadium will be finished on time.

“It is slow moving,” Christopher said. “There is just so much to do. The big thing people are going to notice is the new entrance. The front will be centered with the press box.”

The majority of phase two work should be finished by the first week of August, Britton said, with other smaller aspects of construction to be complete a couple weeks after that.

Christopher said the construction is important at the stadium, but with construction to flip the entrance of the front of the school, the stadium will be finished last.

The football team’s schedule builds in time if the construction isn’t finished at the start of the season. The varsity team opens on the road against White Knoll at River Bluff High School Thursday, Aug. 20, and then will head to Lugoff-Elgin Friday, Aug. 28, before opening at home Sept. 4 against Greenville.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Construction at Bob Jones Stadium continues."