OLEAN — Members of the Olean Board of Education Tuesday saw some potential designs for the upcoming $24.8 million capital project that is expected to begin construction in a little more than a year.
Representatives from Young & Wright Architects attended Tuesday’s regular board meeting to update the district on the scope of the project, where funding will come from and a timeline of events.
Of the project’s proposed $24.8 million budget, 94.6% would be covered by state building aid — about $23.46 million of the total cost. The remaining $1.34 million would come from the district’s capital reserve fund.
Project manager Matt Cummings of Young & Wright addressed the proposed work to the high school, which includes renovations in the auditorium, the music suite, locker rooms and public restrooms. He said upgrades include the HVAC system, safety items such as speakers, kitchen equipment and site improvements.
“The music suites, we’re still working with the district to finalize some of the layouts, but we’re very excited about some of the progress we’ve made over the last few weeks,” Cumming said.
At Olean Intermediate Middle School, proposed work includes a new turf athletic field and lights, a new courtyard and play area, pool upgrades, safety upgrades such as lighting, enhancing the HVAC system and upgrades to the elevator, said Shawn Wright, partner at Young & Wright.
The new courtyard would be in the area near the pool building and where a current playground is, Wright said. The existing softball and baseball fields northeast of the school would be renovated with turf and new lights as well as lines for a multipurpose field.
“The turf itself is what’s being engineered at this point in time along with the sidewalks and fencing,” he explained. “Once we get this part submitted to the State Education Department for review, we’ll be coming back to the committee to start talking about specifics.”
Over at East View Elementary, a lot of work had been done in the previous capital project, Wright said. For this project, the scope includes renovating the nurse’s suite, replacing the public address system, updating cafeteria equipment, installing a new sign outside and replacing asphalt and installing a new elevator for the building.
At Washington West Elementary, Cummings said the scope would focus on the core of the building itself. He said work would include renovating the main entrance, the office suites and classrooms, updating the public address system, the cafetorium, kitchen equipment and the HVAC system.
“The big thing we want to focus on in this one is the secure entrance,” he said. “There is a single door designed for all the guests and visitors to come through the secure entrance after school begins.”
Carl Calarco, project manager for Campus Construction Management Group, said the project is about two-thirds through the design phase, so the $24,800,000 estimate is the second of three. The first was done about a third way through the design process and the final estimate will be done when drawings are ready to be submitted to the state.
“As design progresses, especially going into the (state) estimate where they will really be pulling in the fine details of the overall design, we’ll be tightening up that estimate and give us a really good snapshot of what we can expect,” Calarco said.
The design process will continue through the next several weeks until drawings will be submitted to the state beginning July 29. Wright said the state’s review window varies but they’re estimating approval by the end of December.
From there, the bid period would begin in January 2022, awarding the contracts from February through the spring and then begin construction in June 2022, Wright said. The overall construction period is expected to last through November of 2023.
