Yo. schools plan for rebuilding

By Harold Gwin

Two old school buildings will be torn down as part of the rebuilding program.

YOUNGSTOWN — Bids for the construction of a new Volney Rogers Middle School came in at 2004 construction cost levels.

The city school board awarded nearly $9 million in contracts for the new building Tuesday. It will be erected on the old Volney Rogers site at 2400 S. Schenley Ave.

The bids were “fantastic,” said Steven Ludwinski, senior project manager for Heery International Inc., the school district’s construction manager on its $190 million school rebuilding program.

A ground breaking has been scheduled for 10 a.m. June 4.

Ludwinski told the board that the bids were very close to the original Ohio School Facilities Commission 2004 budget projections. The OSFC is picking up 80 percent of the rebuilding program costs.

The total Volney Rogers project will have a cost of $10.8 million, close to the $10.3 million original projection, he said.

There was a point when the district had expected significantly higher bids due to escalating building costs over the last four years.

Contractors, however, are hungry for work right now — resulting in very favorable bids, Ludwinski told the board.

In a related matter, the board authorized the seeking of bids for the demolition of two old buildings for which it no longer has any use.

The Bennett and Cleveland elementary schools, located on Mabel Street and Princeton Avenue, respectively, are to be torn down as part of the rebuilding program.

Heery has estimated that the combined demolition cost will run about $480,000. The OSFC will pick up 80 percent of that expense as well.

No decision has been made yet on whether the proposed new Rayen Middle School will be built as a stand-alone structure or as an addition to Harding Elementary.

Original plans called for a stand-alone building to be erected on the site of the former Rayen School on Benita Avenue, but rebuilding project finances and a declining pupil enrollment have resulted in the OSFC taking a second look at that project.

School officials have said it could be built cheaper as an addition to Harding on nearby Cordova Avenue.

The final decision rests with the OSFC which is reviewing enrollment numbers to determine if Rayen Middle School would have a sufficient number of pupils to fill a stand-alone building designed to house 350 children.

gwin@vindy.com