ATHOL – Town Manager Shaun Suhoski Thursday awarded the contract to undertake the greening of Lord Pond Plaza to J. Bates & Son.

With a bid of nearly $2.8 million, the Clinton company was the lowest of five submitted for the project. Bids for the project were opened on Monday, Sept. 10 and were reviewed by BCS Group, the town’s engineer on the project, which ultimately recommended that Bates be awarded the contract.

In August of last year, Athol received a $3 million Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant to completely re-make the six-acre Lord Pond Plaza by daylighting Mill Brook, which currently runs beneath the parking lot, creating wetlands, green space and pollinator gardens. The work will also create space for community events and increase the safety of traffic moving through the plaza.

This fiscal year, $1 million of the grant will be disbursed to the town, with the remaining $2 million coming in FY26.

“The structure of the agreement is driven in part by how the state will be disbursing the grant funds,” said Suhoski. “We actually expect (Bates) to mobilize, order materials and get a jump start on construction before the end of June, before the end of this fiscal year. But most of the work will occur later in the summer and into 2026.”

Suhoski was pleased that Bates’ bid came in below the amount awarded to the town under the MVP grant.

“They are a MassDOT qualified contractor,” he added. “The engineer recommended them, so we’re very pleased that we’re able to do the whole project, including the alternates that we put in there, like final paving and streetscape materials.”

The town manager is hopeful that the low bid will give the town a little room to cover some work that had been cut from the original scope of the project.

“I want to give one caveat,” Suhoski explained. “We had a concept for some green space and community space, a community garden, behind the senior center and the veterans center; it’s just kind of a dusty sandlot back there, but it’s connected to the plaza. In our original plans we had some improvements slated for that, but we took them out because – with it – the engineer’s estimate was over the $3 million.

“We’re hopeful we’ll be able to access the full $3 million from the state and we have $100,000 in available local grant match monies, so we feel that one way or another, we will get some additional work done that was taken out of the project before the bid.”

Suhoski expressed satisfaction that the improvements to Lord Pond Plaza will have a significant impact on the town. Right now, he said, “It’s not a calling card for downtown Athol. It’s not functional. If you’re walking or driving through the parking lot, your head is on a swivel. It’s not safe for the seniors, the veterans, the pedestrians – it’s not safe for traffic; people are cutting through all different ways. And it creates a documented urban heat island – all that pavement.”

Suhoski referred to the greening of Lord Pond Plaza as a “legacy project” for the town of Athol.

“We’re going to be greening up the space, making it safer, and perhaps that will even spur additional investment, private investment, in some of the challenged properties that surround that area,” he said. “That’s the hope.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.