Higher costs mean higher estimates to build Volney school

Construction costs have risen since the building was first planned.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATON WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Building a new Volney Rogers Middle School could cost about $3.3 million more than originally estimated.

It’s not that the design contains any cost overruns.

It’s just the difference between construction costs in 2004, when the building was first planned, and 2009, when the structure will actually be completed, said Steve Ludwinski of Heery International Inc., construction manager for the city school district’s $192 million school rebuilding program.

The original plan called for a $10.37 million project. That number could now reach $13.72 million.

Ludwinski presented the city school board with the revised cost estimates earlier this week.

Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, said the final project cost isn’t likely to reach that higher number, however.

This is just a first glance at the numbers based on design documents approved by the board. Actual construction documents must be prepared and a lot of engineering changes can be made to help control the cost, DeNiro said.

Ludwinski said the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which is picking up 80 percent of the rebuilding program, is aware of the differences in construction costs and is prepared to pick up its additional share of the Volney project.

The design plan approved by the school board shows a 65,738-square-foot building that can accommodate 350 pupils in grades six, seven and eight.

The building, however, is being designed so that additional classrooms can easily be added should the pupil enrollment grow at some future point.

The structure will essentially be a one-floor building, although the education wing will be at a slightly higher elevation than the administrative offices, gymnasium and cafeteria.

A set of stairs and wheelchair lift will make the building fully accessible, according to MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown, which designed the facility.

This is the third design prepared for the school, Ludwinski said, explaining that the OSFC directed the city schools to scale back the size of the project twice as the pupil population has continued to decline.

At one point, the design was for a school that could house 502 children. New Bunn and North elementary schools and Wilson and Rayen middle schools also had to undergo redesigns as a result of the population decline, all dropping to buildings to house 350 children.

North, which has been renamed the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, and Bunn are under construction.

The old Volney Rogers school on South Schenley Avenue, which was built in the mid-1950s and closed at the end of last school year, was demolished at a cost of $437,000. Site work has begun to prepare for the new facility on the same site, Ludwinski said.

The board also voted to hire Valley Electric of Girard to do the technology cabling for Volney at a cost of $116,200 and Mid West Telephone Services of Girard at $121,400 to perform the same task when the new Wilson school is built.

The district hopes to recoup $214,000 of those costs from the federal E-Rate reimbursement program that offers funding to help provide telecommunication services to schools.

gwin@vindy.com