The press box at Fifth Third Field is hard to recognize these days, since it has been reduced to a tangle of wires and rubble. In that condition, it's hard to imagine what the media who cover the Mud Hens do when they are in that facility.

It won't be hard to imagine once the 2012 season starts, though: There will be enough glass that fans at the suite and club level will be able to watch the media in action.

The Lathrop Company has begun the process of rebuilding the press box at the ballpark, which was first opened in 2002. Thursday local media were given a chance to tour the project during its early stages.

Ray Benjamin, manager of special projects for the Lathrop Company, the general contractor for the project, said the project will be done in several phases.

"First, we will demolish the press box," he said. "We expect that will be a two-week process, and when we are done, everything will be gutted.

"From there we will cut the size of the original press box roughly in half, building home and visiting radio booths while combining the press area with the computers that run the scoreboards and the television production area."

The Mud Hens have removed a booth used exclusively for television, as well as a food commissary and bathrooms used by the media.

The area also will be enclosed extensively in glass, allowing fans who have tickets for the suite/club level to watch the media while they work.

"We took our time considering what we wanted to do with this area," said Joe Napoli, general manager for the club. "This is similar to the Rockefeller Center in New York City, where you can peer through the windows and watch the action at NBC News.

"We're not sure that anybody in Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball has done something like this, so we're really enthusiastic that our fans will like having the ability to 'peek in' at what's going on."

Benjamin said he is confident that the facility will be ready for the Mud Hens' first game this season, an exhibition contest against the Detroit Tigers on April 4.

"The trick to any renovation is dealing with what's there before," Benjamin said. "It's not what you see -- it's what you don't see that can become an issue."

Napoli declined to reveal the cost of the project -- "It's more than a dollar," he said jokingly -- and he said the reason for his reticence is because the project is still in its early stages.

"Arriving at the final number for any construction project is an interesting process," he said. "First the architects, who design the project, put together an estimate. Then the construction company gives you an estimate [of the cost], and from there the estimates come from the subcontractors on the project.

"During each step of the project you can make alterations -- you might decide to extend on contract the project -- and those alterations redefine the scope of the project, which can change the cost estimates.

"It probably won't be until the final few weeks of the project before we can get a solid cost estimate."