Photo: The pre-hoisted press box at Harris Field in Belmont.

The red single-room structure on a trailer placed hard by the entrance of the Skip Viglirolo Skating Rink looks like one of the popular “tiny” houses that have become all the rage across the country.

But the corrugated steel box with a door and a row of sliding windows wasn’t built with homeowners in mind. Rather, its occupants will be coaches, announcers, and the visiting media during fall and spring sports.

After nearly two decades of waiting, Belmont High’s Harris Field will finally have a press box.

In the next few weeks, the prefab unit will be hoisted to the top of the stands – work has been completed cutting space for the structure to fit into place by contractor Elizabeth Contracting of Westwood – with a completion date of September, coinciding with the start of the football, soccer, and field hockey seasons.

The press box has had a long history, first proposed in 2001 as part of the first renovation of Harris Field. But issues with cost and the need for the structure to include an elevator to comply with the Americans with Disability Act standards place the plans on the back burner. 

Those issues again delayed the press box in 2013 when Harris Field underwent its second renovation. 

Finally, through the efforts of Bill Webster – a long-time member of the Belmont Permanent Building Advisory Committee who has championed the press box since 2001 – the town and community groups and businesses including the Belmont Savings Bank, the Brendan Grant Foundation, the Belmont Boosters and individual contributors came together to raise in 2016 the $240,000 to complete the job.