The Tamaqua Area School Board selected an architectural firm for the district’s stadium improvement project.

The board hired Alloy5 Architecture of Bethlehem to draft plans a new pole building for additional storage and a new concession stand at a minimum cost of $37,000, not to exceed 6% of the project cost.

Other proposals to develop plans for the project came from W2A Architects of Allentown at $91,500, and EI Associates of Harrisburg at $115,000, Business Manager Connie Ligenza said.

Alloy5 came with outstanding references, which Superintendent Ray Kinder and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Stephen Toth vetted, she said.

The firm had projects in its portfolio similar to what the district would like to do at the stadium, Ligenza said.

“So clearly, they’ve got the experience and the recommendations,” she said.

Board President Larry Wittig asked if the other firms understood what the project due to the higher proposal costs, and Kinder said that all the firms had to come to one of two meeting with the district.

“I’m sure they understood it,” Kinder said. “Alloy5 is out of the Bethlehem area. We got excellent recommendations from Easton, Parkland and Northwestern.”

Kinder pointed out that he asked the firm specifically about budgeting and Alloy5 said that all of their projects came in at or below budget.

Board member Dan Schoener asked what the low end of the bids were when the district bid the project earlier this year, and Kinder didn’t have the exact numbers, but believed the buildings came in around $200,000 apiece.

In March, the bids ranged between a low of $192,370 and a high of $494,162 on the concession stand, and $212,292 and $613,790 on the pole building.

Kinder told the board that one firm that did not submit a proposal told him that they thought this was a $2 million to $3 million project.

“I don’t think any of us had seen it that way,” he said.

Kinder said that this action will allow the firm to draft plans and put the project out to bid as soon as possible.