Contractors have until April 13 at 3 p.m. to bid on the demolition of a Palmerton Area School District field house.

The field house, located at the Seventh Street field owned by the district, was structurally damaged when a vehicle struck it last May.

Most recently, the Palmerton Booster Club has used the building primarily for storage.

“We’d love to be able to keep the building,” Board President Tammy Recker said at the district’s March 1 workshop. “It’s part of our sentimental history. But we have an understanding that the building has to come down and we are going to work with the booster club to give them what they need in its place.”

A site walk through for prospective contractors is scheduled for April 6 at 11 a.m.

Bids will be opened at 11 a.m. on April 14 at Palmerton’s third floor board room inside the Parkside Education Center, 680 Fourth St.

Palmerton’s school board will have 90 days from the time the bids are opened to award or reject the contract.

The scope of work includes the removal of the approximately 2,000-square-foot field house including the floor slab and frost footings to a foot below the existing slab elevations.

All building material will be removed and hauled to a landfill dumpsite.

In February, district officials said three estimates had been received for a 24-by-28-foot portable garage to replace the building, with those prices ranging from $16,500 to $24,571.

“The board decided it wanted something portable so we tried to find the biggest portable garage we could get delivered under $20,000,” Facilities Director Joseph Faenza said. “Once we get to $20,400, we have to go out for public bid and that automatically kicks in bringing in our engineering firm of record. That would add, at a minimum, $20,000 to the project to get them involved. We’d love to be able to go to a 30-by-30-foot building, but we can’t get a portable building of that sized delivered, and a pole building would kick us into those public bidding requirements.”