Wrigley Field and Fenway Park will be getting an overhaul in a project expected to begin next month.

This project will not be noticed by Major League Baseball fans attending games in the iconic venues in Chicago, Illinois, and Boston, Massachusetts, however.

Scaled-down replicas of those stadiums in Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex will be the sites of the work.

At the northeast end of the complex is an area called the Mini Majors which has ballfields built to look like Wrigley Field; Fenway Park; Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California; and Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Yankee Stadium received a complete update about a year ago so that it could become the homefield of the Iowa Central Community College softball team.

City Recreation Director Lori Branderhorst said the upcoming project will include these changes:

• Installing new fences to increase the distance to center, right and left fields to 200 feet.

• Reconstructing the infields.

• Installing new dugouts, netting and scoreboards.

• Creating a new parking lot.

• Adding stormwater retention features.

• Installing new irrigation systems.

• Paving the access road.

• Complying with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements.

Doyle Construction, of Fort Dodge, was hired to do the work at a cost of $1,898,291.50.

Branderhorst said the contractor can start next month. She said it will have to take a break in early July to accommodate the girls state softball tournament. The entire effort is to be done by July 1, 2026.

Other bidders for the project were Castor Construction, Fort Dodge, $2,000,706; Kolacia Construction, Fort Dodge, $2,158,061.80; Jensen Builders Ltd., Fort Dodge, $2,237,905; and Minturn Inc., Brooklyn, $2,497,897.

Snell-Crawford Park along Williams Drive will also be the site of the work this summer. The council hired Alpha Landscaping, of Johnston, to repair erosion on one of the towering hillsides in the park. The company will be paid $54,865.

This hill was the target of a major stabilization project in 2016. In September 2023, about 6 inches of rain fell in a short period, causing a portion of the hillside to collapse, City Engineer Austin Morrow wrote in a report to the council.

Other bidders for the project were Country Landscapes Inc, Ames, $64,465, and Doyle Construction, $84,967.50.