PISCATAWAY — In order to complete a plan initially orchestrated by former athletic director Tim Pernetti, Rutgers spent $1.7 million on renovations inside High Point Solutions Stadium, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Rutgers officials unveiled the stadium enhancements -- which include construction of two new men's bathrooms, widened concourses and the installation of ribbon-scoreboards -- prior to its home opener against Howard earlier this month, but declined to provide details of the cost.

NJ Advance Media obtained the purchase order documents for the construction projects through an Open Public Records Act request to the University Custodian of Records office.

The cost of the construction totaled $1,742,900 -- slightly less than the $1.8 million pricetag reported by The Record in June.

While workers this week were still putting the finishing touches on the project that began in July, the documents show that the plan began taking shape in late February 2013 while Pernetti was still the Rutgers AD.

Six weeks before resigning amid the fallout of the men's basketball controversy, Pernetti signed off on a feasibility study to provide additional men's bathroom facilities on the main upper concourses of the stadium.

Sources said Pernetti began studying ways to brace Rutgers' football stadium for bigger crowds not long after brokering the deal to join the Big Ten in November 2012. Pernetti, who now serves as chief business officer of the MLS-expansion club New York City FC, has declined interview requests since leaving Rutgers.

Here's the timeline of how the plan was executed:

• On March 11, Nadaskay Kopelson Architects of Morristown completed the feasibility study at a cost of $9,600.

• On May 2, 2013 -- exactly one month after the men's basketball controversy erupted and two weeks before Julie Hermann was named AD -- Rutgers officials agreed to pay RSC Architects of Cliffside Park $96,800 for architectural plans to construct "additional toilet facilities.''

• One year later -- on May 19 -- Rutgers officials agreed to pay slightly more than $1.3 million to Epic Management of Piscataway for the construction project.

• On July 22, Rutgers paid $5,000 to NV5 Northeast Inc. of Rahway for the inspection of the concourse, which was widened eight feet on the north end of the stadium.

• On July 30, Rutgers executed a purchase order with Falcon Maintenance of South Amboy to add five new ribbon boards at a cost of $262,500.

Construction of the fan-friendly enhancements appears to be prudent, as the school has already sold a record 30,927 full season-ticket plans for its inaugural campaign in the Big Ten.

While Rutgers only drew to its 52,454-seat capacity three times in 33 home games between 2009-13, a record crowd of 53,774 was in attendance for the Big Ten opener against Penn State two weeks ago.

While the widened concourses have given fans more room to move between sections 110 and 121, the additional men's restrooms have alleviated long lines.

The LED boards are considered a money maker for the school, as paid advertisements are sprinkled in between announcements and statistics throughout the game.

In a statement earlier this month, Hermann said the stadium enhancements provide "a best in class experience for our fans.''

Constructed at a cost of $28 million before the 1994 season, Rutgers' football stadium underwent a $102 million expansion in 2008-09, a project that saw the addition of a 852 seats and a club suite on the mezzanine level and approximately 11,500 seats shadowing the south end of the field.

The work this summer was the first major improvement to the stadium since an anonymous donor and Motorola President Greg Brown (who now serves as chair of the Board of Governors) combined to donate $5 million for the construction of a recruiting lounge in the newly expanded south end zone section.

The original expansion plan included the construction of locker rooms underneath the new section but that project was scratched when fundraisers fell short of their goal and the university was forced to borrow the entire $102 million for the expansion.

According to its 2013 Fiscal Year report filed to the NCAA, Rutgers has $92.9 million in outstanding debt on athletics facilities and pays $6 million annually in debt service.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.