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UC Berkeley Seeks Bids for $190 Million Memorial Stadium Renovation

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 26, 2009 - 02:29:00 PM

UC Berkeley has just issued a call for bids from builders for the $190 million “seismic safety improvement” overhaul of Memorial Stadium. 

The call, just posted online at the University’s Capital Projects website, is the prelude to a Wednesday, July 1, meeting which builders must attend if they are to compete on the project. 

The plans call for a complete transformation of the stadium’s seating; the addition of a new raised press box atop the stadium’s western edge; lowering the playing field; installation of new seating (including a costly premium section); seismic strengthening; new scoreboards; and an excavation of earth along the stadium’s eastern side to create a new plaza level beneath the seating. 

Bids are scheduled to be opened at 2:02 p.m. July 16. 

The new contract is the second stage of a project which began with the destruction of the oak grove along the stadium’s western wall and the start of construction of the new four-level Student Athlete High Performance Center. 

Construction was delayed for more than a year by a tree-sit staged by activists who wanted to preserve the oak grove and by a lengthy legal battle waged by environmentalists. 

The stadium poses unique design challenges, given that the Hayward Fault—deemed by federal geologists the likely site of the Bay Area’s next major earthquake—runs directly beneath the stadium, running from goalpost to goalpost. 

The bid call is available online at http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/AdsForBids.html.