Franklin’s amphitheater 10 months behind schedule

The clock is ticking with less than three months to go before the scheduled grand opening celebration at a downtown Franklin park.

The $9 million Youngs Creek Park is 10 months behind schedule, city officials said. They are concerned about the pace of construction, as the park is supposed to open on May 20.

Franklin Parks and Recreation planned a grand opening event to welcome the public in for their first look at the completed amphitheater and to kick off the city’s inaugural concert series with the Blue River Band.

Just a day later, the DriveHubler.com Amphitheater is supposed to host the Festival Country Luau featuring Parrots of the Caribbean, kicking off Franklin’s festival season.

If the concerts are moved, it will mark the second time the city has had to alter its plans due to construction delays. Last year, city officials had hoped to have the Franklin Fall Festival and Halloween Town at the amphitheater, but both had to be moved to the courthouse square.

For now, the plan is to hold the grand opening as scheduled, even if the park is not 100% complete, as long as the facilities are safe for the public to use, Mayor Steve Barnett said.

“There is a 50/50 chance it is going to be done. We are being told by the company it is going to be done,” Barnett said. “(But) I still see a lot of work to be done, and they haven’t shown that they can stay on the deadline.”

Franklin parks director Chip Orner said the Fishers-based contractor, Myers Construction Management, Inc., could finish by that day if they use their time wisely.

However, crews weren’t working at the property at least one day last week, despite the largely sunny weather and unseasonably warm temperatures, he said.

“If it was me when it is 50 degrees and sunny, I would think I would have workers out there,” Orner said. “I see they have a lot of work to be done. We are less than three months away.”

The work that has been done so far is satisfactory. The city’s only issue with the company is the constant delays, Barnett said.

At the beginning of the project in summer 2020, it was discovered that the ground underneath the amphitheater needed more reinforcement than was initially thought. As a result, the contractor took several weeks longer to complete early work on the amphitheater’s foundation. That issue was out of the contractor’s control, and was not a major contributor to the delay, Orner said.

But delays experienced later on in the project are things the contractor could have controlled, city officials said.

Delays racked up last summer due to a national concrete shortage. Myers told city officials they were having trouble getting concrete from their supplier, Orner said.

Staffing also seemed to be a problem that has worked itself out, as Orner saw more crew members than usual at the site over the winter and at around 12:30 p.m. Friday. He was also told workers would be there on Saturday, he said.

The pace of concrete work has picked up in the last month, but there is still a considerable amount of work to be done in the area behind the amphitheater. The public restrooms also need work, Orner said.

Other parts of the park, including the pickleball courts, playground and splash pad aren’t ready either. Three shelter houses to be built were still in pieces in the parking lot on Friday, along with bushes and flowers to be planted around the park.

With just 74 days left, city officials are cautiously optimistic. They’re hoping to see a lot of progress this month and next month, they said.

City officials are also preparing for the possibility of holding the company accountable for any future delays past May 20, Barnett said.

Myers Construction’s project manager for the amphitheater did not respond to multiple requests for comment.