CAPITAL PROJECT UPDATE

       By Business Administrator Stuart Mattey

With the school year now complete and another one soon approaching, the school district is getting ready to embark on a long journey that will take us through torn up parking lots, gutted rooms and facilities that may look like they could never possibly be put back together again to our destination of new or improved student and public facilities, updated instructional spaces, new mechanical and electrical equipment and technology  

upgrades.

The State Education Department has approved our project, and at present Hunt Architects and Bovis, our construction manager, are busily putting together the final bid documents which will be sent to prospective contractors later this summer with initial groundbreaking being planned for late September.

Unfortunately, due to the rising costs of construction materials, the Board of Education has been forced to reduce the scope of this project once again to assure that the bids that are returned come in on or below budget. If bids were to come in higher than the amount authorized, construction would be delayed further while the Board made reductions and went through the bid process once again.

The most recent item that has been removed from the main body of the project is the renovation of the Interlaken Auditorium. This auditorium will still be bid on as an alternate item. This means that it is a possibility that this work can still take place if bids come in low enough on bid opening day and the Board of Education makes the decision to accept this alternate instead of, or in addition to, all of the alternates it has to choose from. 

Also, the Board of Education has decided to delete from the project the development of delivery receiving areas at both buildings. This will save an estimated $70,000 on bid opening day.

Please note that student parking will not be available on campus beginning this school year until further notice. Also, please expect limited on-campus parking for all events until a new lot is in place at the northern end of the campus.

Please visit the district homepage at www.southseneca.com for the most up-to-date capital project information including presentations, project renderings and timelines. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart Mattey at 869-9636 ext. 1431.

We appreciate your patience as we make this journey together.