NEW PALESTINE — Officials with the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock say while some areas of their $49 million renovation project at New Palestine High School campus have been slowed due to supply issues, they are moving forward with other phases of the overall project.
The district’s school board recently approved a $2.62 million contract for a new maintenance building and additions to their transportation building. The two separate projects are expected to start within the next few weeks, but only if supplies and construction schedules unfold as projected.
“I think we’re still a few weeks away from shovels in the ground, but things are moving forward,” said Wes Anderson, Southern Hancock’s community relations director.
District officials had originally released plans in January for a new maintenance building, which will be constructed just south off the new Bittner Road back entrance to the school campus. The current maintenance building is on the north side of the home bleachers by the New Palestine High School football field.
District officials also have renovation plans for their current transportation building, which sits at the south end of the campus, off County Road 500W. On the west side of that building, a new design calls for a bump-out for a couple of offices to be added, Anderson said.
Anderson noted they had hoped to have construction on the new maintenance building and transportation renovation well underway or completed by now, but they had to delay the projects due to the fact no one seemed interested in the work.
“Nobody bid it, so at that point we had to go out to find someone who wanted to do the job,” Anderson said. “Most contractors we talked with in the county are already super busy on big jobs.”
Officials finally settled with Envoy, Inc., Fishers to handle the $2.62 million projects.
Had the project bid out in February as they had wanted, the maintenance building would have cost around $1 million. Cost for the maintenance building is now projected at $1.85 million while the renovation work at the transportation building is expected to cost $362,500.
Still, Anderson said they’re happy to be moving forward with major work after renovation work inside NPHS slowed due to supply shortages. District officials hoped to have students in new classrooms at the start of the this school year, but it looks like they may have to remain in makeshift classrooms in the new fieldhouse for the next several months.
“We’re still waiting on electrical components for the new classrooms,” Anderson said. “There is work going on but, at the end of the day, there really isn’t a lot workers can do until they finish the walls, which they can’t do until they run electrical.”
That includes delays in finishing the new cafeteria, renovations of the old cafeteria for the band, plus there is still work to be done on the new lounge area inside the main entrance and a whole new guidance department wing to the north of the main entrance.
“I’m not going to say we are at a standstill because we are not,” Anderson said. “Work is being done to keep things moving, but we do want those classrooms done and our teachers out of the field house.”
Anderson noted they are working with their construction manager to make adjustments so they can keep moving forward in other areas. On the other hand, the maintenance building and transportation renovation projects should wrapup fairly quickly — six to eight months once ground is broken.
“What we’re really building there is a pole barn,” Anderson said. “The maintenance building is designed to house some equipment and it will have a few offices in there, but it’s not a complex build with complex components that will take a lot of time.”
The goal is to have the maintenance building and renovation work at the transportation building completed by the start of the next school year if not sooner.
On a positive note, Anderson said while both projects for the maintenance building and renovations at the transportation were on the wish list of things needed when officials first made plans to do a multi-million-dollar renovation project, it’s only because of good planning and keeping costs down that they are now able to move forward with both projects.
