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Winter weather slows progress on new gymnasium
(by Sali McSherry - February 09, 2011)
Winter weather slows progress on new gymnasium
By SALI McSHERRY
Despite the cold weather, the steel frame for the new gymnasium at Brady Middle School is expected to be completed this week, Orange School District Operations Director Phillip Dickinson told school board members at a buildings and grounds meeting Monday.
"It would be nice if spring came early," he said. The project, which had been planned to be completed by the end of the school year, is now scheduled to be finished Aug. 1, in time for the 2011-2012 school year, Mr. Dickinson said. Winter weather has played a role in the delay, he said.
The cement footers have been poured and cured and the next phase is bolting the steel frame to them. Construction on the first brick-and-block wall is scheduled for next week, he said. Masonry work must be protected when temperatures drop to 10 degrees or colder, he said. The details have all been worked out for protecting the work, he said.
The renovations will provide new gymnasium space that is needed in order to appropriately address educational programming and athletic needs for students in the 21st century, Mr. Dickinson said.
The project has been part of the district's long-term plan for several years. Several challenges were identified with the current gymnasium, he said. It is not in compliance with state regulations regarding the size and safety of the facility and it doesn't meet state code. Interscholastic basketball games are played on an under-sized court with not enough safety zone space surrounding it, he said.
Student athletes are much bigger, stronger and faster than they were when the school was built in 1965. Due to the age of the gym, there are moisture issues with the walls and the original 44-year-old floor, Mr. Dickinson said.
The new gymnasium will resolve these compliance issues, give student athletes an appropriate venue, improve physical education classes and give the school an area for all-school assemblies, he said.
The school board had awarded three contracts for the project, including a $2,108,800 contract with Sterling Professional Group, of Garfield Heights.
Mr. Dickinson told the board the district had protected the bid package with alternates and was able to select five alternates that were included in the cost, such as additional glazing, skylights in the locker rooms, ceramic tile in the restrooms and locker rooms and a video wall and protection. There were 28 bidders on the job.
The board also had approved a contract in the amount of $251,575 to Van Auken Akins Architects, of Cleveland, for architectural and engineering services for the middle school gym. Project Construction Services, of Cleveland, is serving as the district's representative on the construction project for an amount not to exceed $29,602.
Orange schools will earn interest while it borrows money from an investment group to pay for the new gymnasium, school Treasurer Greg Slemons said.
Rather than pay for the $2.67 million gymnasium up front, the district is selling notes to a private investment group, Liberty Bankers Life in Dallas, a company that was looking to invest in a project, Mr. Slemons said.
It helped that Orange schools has a AAA financial rating, the first public kindergarten through 12th-grade school to have received that rating, and now one of a handful, said Louis DeVincentis, communications coordinator for the district.
It basically works like a "10-year same-as-cash" deal, Mr. Slemons said.
The district is working under a qualified school-construction bond-allocation program through the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which is administering federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Mr. Slemons said. That money will be earmarked to reimburse the school district the interest on the notes, which amounts to about $126,000 a year for 10 years, he said.
Since Orange is saving the $2.67 million in an interest-bearing account, and there was, conservatively, a 1-percent interest return, it would amount to about $150,000 after 10 years, Mr. Slemons said.
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