Lehighton hopes to award a contract later this month for its long-awaited upper park project.

Borough manager Nicole Beckett on Monday provided borough council with an update on the status of the project.

Bids for the project are due by June 17, and council will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 20 to award a contract.

Beckett said that due to the layout of the upper park and amphitheater area, the project comes with complexities.

She said heavy equipment will need to enter in the amphitheater area for excavating and may require hand-digging, while logistics will need to be figured out in order to have a concrete truck in the amphitheater area.

Last month, council rejected the lone proposal it received for the project.

The sole bid of $633,000 received from Kobalt Construction, Inc. was about $300,000 more than anticipated.

Kobalt Construction was the project coordinator for the borough’s refurbished downtown park.

The borough received funding in the amount of $350,000 from the Commonwealth Financing Authority for improvements to the park, which is used for concerts, movies and other community events.

That includes $150,000 that was received from the Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program for improvements to the Upper Park Amphitheater, as well as $200,000 from the Multimodal Transportation Funds for streetscape and pedestrian improvements to the streets around the upper park.

Planned improvements include new park lighting, sidewalks, ADA accessibility, stormwater improvements and pedestrian improvements consistent with the lower park.