Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has accepted a combination bid for the construction of a multi-million dollar soccer complex and renovation of the school corporation’s existing transportation and maintenance building.
School board members voted Monday to award a $6.6 million contract to Maxwell Construction for both projects. It offered the lowest costs among five bidders.
Greendale-based Maxwell Construction was previously been hired by the school district to complete the renovation of the Columbus North High School gymnasium. The Columbus Board of Aviation also hired Maxwell Construction in 2014 to complete the renovation of the Columbus Municipal Airport terminal building.
New soccer complex
The district is moving forward with plans to construct two full-size competition soccer fields that will be used by Columbus North and Columbus East high schools, BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman said.
The facility will be located on 13 acres in the Columbus Airpark, north of the city-operated three-field Richard Wigh Soccer Complex that both high schools teams currently use.
Only one of the three fields that make up the Wigh complex is considered a competition field with lighting. Those fields have limitations such inadequate space for athletes to change and limited spectator seating.
Plans for the new soccer complex project were initially proposed in January 2018 after BCSC school board members approved borrowing $13 million in bonds to be used for continuing upgrades to infrastructure at both high schools and the proposed soccer complex.
About $5 million of that amount will be dedicated for the soccer complex, including scoreboards, lighting and spectator seating. In addition, a full-sized locker room building, restrooms and a concessions building are also planned.
The district also accepted bids from Maxwell Construction on eight of 10 alternates proposed by BCSC. The original design would have placed the new scoreboard on the south end facing north, but the district proposed an alternate of placing the scoreboard on the north end of the field facing south so people at the concession stand would have better visibility, costing an additional $3,100.
Also included in the alternates is additional field netting, fencing around the perimeter on the south half of the property and athletic turf seed for the south field. The other field will have synthetic turf.
Boezeman said the corporation originally planned to seek and approve bids last year, but was advised to wait until the market cooled down to save money. Even after accepting the lowest bidder and adding 8 of the 10 proposed alternates, Boezeman said the estimated cost of the project still came in under budget.
“We’re excited to be able to provide this to the community,” Boezeman said. “It will be as good, if not, better than any of the schools that our kids now compete against. It’s going to be a good venue for our student athletes at both schools in both the men’s and women’s programs.”
Building improvements
The BCSC transportation and maintenance building, 1260 N. Marr Road, hasn’t seen any major improvements to its existing structure since it was built in the 1970s, Boezeman said.
Historically, the corporation has spent its dollars as close to the classroom as possible. In doing so, Boezeman said buildings such as the transportation and maintenance building became outdated quickly.
“When we think about BCSC, we think about teaching and learning primarily, and rightfully so,” Boezeman said. “But we actually have more support staff we employ than we do teachers. There’s a lot of people who connect to this building.”
With a 141-bus fleet, 120 bus drivers, more than 100 custodians and maintenance employees and more than 100 food service employees, Boezeman said it’s important that the district provides a good working environment for them.
The renovation project will include a new roof, new carpeting, an additional 800-square-feet of office and meeting space, pavement and traffic flow improvements, a kitchen expansion and automatic gates for buses to move through efficiently and safely.
BCSC completes a facility study in collaboration with CSO Architects every four years, and Boezeman said the transportation and maintenance building has always scored lowest in terms of overall condition and building efficiency.
“We work really hard to get our schools improved and all schools have seen an improvement as a result of that study, but we haven’t done anything with the transportation and maintenance building,” Boezeman said. “This is an appropriate time to do that.”
The district also accepted Maxwell Construction’s bids for all three proposed alternates, including a PVC roof which will actually save the corporation about $290,000. A PVC roof system uses layers of PVC, a type of plastic well known for its affordability and durability, that includes additives to make the material flexible, UV-stable and to prevent curing.
The other alternates include a service bay HVAC system and automatic openers on sliding gates, totaling $130,500.
Boezeman said the district will also incorporate within this project some of the infrastructure necessary to charge a new electric bus that the district will receive next year as the result of a grant.
Construction is set to begin soon after BCSC and Maxwell Construction conclude their pre-construction meetings, Boezeman said.
