District architect says ‘bundling’ projects cuts costs
By BETTY L. MARTIN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
By moving WoodCreek Reserve Junior High up a year to share construction costs with Junior High No. 11 on Fry Road, the Katy school district will shave over $4 million off the price allotted in the November bond.
Trustees voted Monday to approve $45.95 million in construction and a total project cost of $57.5 million for both schools to be built by Gilbane Building Co., well under the nearly $62.5 million price tag approved by voters in November.
They also approved $13.72 million for Exley Elementary School contractor Brae Burn Construction to build Morton Ranch High School’s Ninth Grade Center with final project costs not to exceed $15.8 million.
Peter McElwain, the district’s chief architect, explained at an earlier board meeting that WoodCreek Reserve school needed to be moved up to “‘bundle costs” with Junior High No. 11. McElwain said the close bids by competing contractors was a testament as to how well PBK Architects had described the work.
$126 per square foot
The cost of the junior high schools will be about $126 per square foot, McElwain said, substantially less than similar schools being built in the Bryan and Pearland school districts. The latter district’s school, McElwain said, is averaging about $147 per square foot.
The prices are particularly good, McElwain said at the Feb. 21 meeting, since construction costs are soaring, with $4 billion in non-residential construction coming up in the Houston area this year that will possibly mean a 14 percent inflation rate.
On Monday, trustees also bought 13.96 acres at Pine Mill Ridge, at a cost of $1.35 per square, from Cardiff Branch LP for a future elementary school. While trustees postponed naming Elementary School No. 28, they pointed out Stephanie Jaterka, assistant principal at Sundown Elementary, as the person who will take the helm of that school once it is built.
A question about checks
Answering a request by Katy Citizens Watchdogs co-founder Kevin Tatum to post checks written by the district on a Web site, Superintendent Leonard Merrell said checks have been registered on the district’s Web site, www.katyisd.org.
Trustees voted unanimously to rename the School of Choice after a deceased educator, longtime math teacher and chairman of Mayde Creek High School’s math department, Martha Raines.
Trustee Jacqueline Birkel said that of the letters from the community that recommended namesakes for new schools, many named Raines, while trustee Rebecca Fox said it was fitting that a school be named for Raines, a former teacher of the year who dedicated 29 years to education.
Trustees also voted to rename the Arthur Miller Career Center as the Arthur Miller Career and Technology Center.
