Builder selected for Mead Middle School project
The Mead School District awarded Lydig Construction Inc. of Spokane the contract to build the new Mead Middle School this week.
The company bid $24.9 million – the lowest of two bidders
The district sent plans to four construction companies, but received only two bids for the 112,000-square-foot middle school on Day-Mount Spokane Road about a quarter-mile east of U.S. Highway 2.
Lydig’s bid was about $488,000 over the district’s estimated budget, district officials said.
“It’s better than only getting one (bid), said John Dormaier, the director of facilities and planning for the district. “It’s not unusual in this climate.”
A volatile construction market, along with escalating costs of building materials and a shortage of construction workers has caused several area school construction projects to be over budget in recent months.
Spokane Public Schools is facing a $23 million shortfall for capital projects planned over the next three years, including the remodel of Shadle Park and Rogers high schools.
Mead, also in the process of building a $16.9 million elementary school on the Five Mile Prairie, saw prices for that project go from $151 a square foot to $212 a square foot at bid time.
Mead voters approved a $37.7 million capital bond in 2004 to build a new elementary and a new middle school.
The district was prepared for high bids on the middle school project, which was originally estimated to cost around $18 million.
The total cost for the project will be about $33.1 million, and includes several items not incorporated in the basic bid amount, including a new softball field, two gym divider curtains, operable walls in five classrooms and terrazzo tile in the commons, Dormaier said. Those items are included in Lydig’s final contract award of $24.9 million.
The district also will receive about $12.5 million in state funds for the middle school project, expected to be completed in the fall of 2008.
The elementary school will open next year.
Yule comes early to NWC
Leaves have barely begun to fall off the maple trees, but elementary and middle school students at Northwest Christian are already thinking about Christmas.
The students are beginning to collect gifts to fill shoe boxes for needy children through a program called Operation Christmas Child. The boxes, filled with toys, school supplies, candy, personal-care items and other small gifts will be collected in early November and distributed to children around the world. Donations will be sent to Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, China, Chile, Russia, Venezuela, Thailand and Nicaragua, school officials said.
The campaign will begin today for middle school students, and Oct. 25 for elementary students.
Over a 10-year period, Northwest Christian students have filled about 4,000 shoe boxes for the program, the school said. In the United States and 10 other countries, about 7.4 million shoe box gifts were collected for needy children at Christmas.