FRANKFORT, Ind. (January 10, 2024) – Construction bids for the renovation of the Frankfort Middle School came in $1.76 million under budget.
Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent Dr. Matt Rhoda called the news a “blessing.”
The ‘blessing’ now allows CSF to approve the bids for the originally planned-for renovations as well as approval of select alternate project bids.
At the top of the alternate list – a new walkway allowing access to second floor space and construction of three new classrooms in this open space.
“To come in, in this market, with increasing construction costs – it’s nothing more than a blessing to come in $1.76 million under budget,” Dr. Rhoda said. “That’s a testament to our architect and to Tecton.”
“A lot of times when people bid on projects if there is guess work in it for the people bidding, they tend to pad [their bids]. What Tecton has done is taken a lot of that guessing game out so that we can get hard numbers and people are not padding their numbers.”
Dr. Rhoda shared how the savings will be used and the costs of those alternates.
“We knew if we had money available that we would go down that list. The big one is getting that walkway that is up in the wrestling area. By getting that walkway in – it’s about $200,000 to put a walkway in with a roof over it – that will give access to three additional classrooms upstairs. Those classrooms come in around $1.3 million.
“By being $1.76 million under budget we’re able to get those two things in and allow us to move our art classrooms and business classroom up and allow [the architects] flexibility of putting in another classroom or a place to expand.”
The art and business classrooms were initially designed to be on the first floor.
Prior to an April 2024 renovation start, CSF will need to receive the construction documents for school board signatures as well as prepare for the issuance of the finance bond.
The $25 million renovation will allow for secure entry into the building, expanded cafeteria space, the addition of a new performance arts wing – allowing for choir, band and orchestra to have its dedicated space plus a public auditorium, the expanding of existing classroom space to name a few of the overall items.
As previously reported, the renovation of FMS will not cause an increase to tax payers as the bond used for the construction of Suncrest will be paid for in 2024. Dr. Rhoda provided an explanation in a November 2022 interview why the retired debt would negatively impact CSF in the future should a current project not be available. “Our tax rate goes down, which means that if we want to do any big projects in the future, we would have to go the referendum route to raise that tax rate again in order to be able to generate those funds. And so we want to stay tax neutral so that we are able to continue to use debt drop off to be able to fund future projects without going to the public to ask for a tax increase.”
In addition to Tecton, CSF worked with KJG Architecture Inc and Fanning Howey to bring this multi-year project to the construction phase.
The planned construction is to begin April 2024 and have 14 classrooms renovated by August 2024 to mitigate the moving around for students during the school year with a Summer 2026 completion date and final punch list complete by December 2026.
