Redesign reduces cost of building middle school

By Harold Gwin

The state has had the district redesign the building twice due to declining enrollment.

YOUNGSTOWN — The estimated cost of building a new Volney Rogers Middle School has changed again, but this time, it’s going down.

The city school board was told in January that the cost of the 65,738-square-foot building was expected to rise as high as $13.7 million based on final design documents, well above the original cost estimate of $10.37 million.

Now, after some plan re-engineering, the board is being given another estimate closer to the original.

The original reason for the projected increase was the difference in construction costs, Steve Ludwinski of Heery International Inc., the district’s construction manager for its school rebuilding program, told the board in January.

The original estimate was done in 2004, and the higher number was based on expected 2009 construction costs, he said.

Ludwinski said the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which is picking up 80 percent of the construction cost, was aware of the increased estimate and is prepared to pick up its additional share of the Volney project.

However, the school board, just before voting last week to put the project out for bids, learned that the cost has been revised again, and the new estimate is $10.8 million.

Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, said the design team and engineers have done some “value engineering” to reduce the cost, resulting in the lower estimate.

That involved making some changes in design and the elimination of some items, but no changes that would affect the integrity of the new building.

No one will be able to tell that changes were made, DeNiro said.

He cautioned that the $10.8 million is still only an estimate. Actual bids could come in higher or lower, he said.

The building, which will be built on the old Volney site, is designed to house 350 pupils in sixth through eighth grades, although provisions are included so that additional classroom space can be added easily in the future, should enrollment growth warrant it.

The building has bee redesigned twice since the $180 million, 14-school, rebuilding program began.

The OSFC directed Youngstown to scale back the size of the project twice as the pupil population has continued to decline.

At one time, Volney was designed to house 502 pupils.

In a related matter, the school board authorized the demolition of the former Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School on Covington Street as part of the overall rebuilding program.

Delphi Consulting Inc. of Houston, Pa, got the job for $72,300, well below the engineering estimate of $450,000.

Delphi was the lowest of 20 bids that ranged as high as $414,000.

gwin@vindy.com