South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Lindbergh board to consider steel bid for first phase of ECE annex

School board members to weigh contract to construct new salt bin at middle school

The Lindbergh Board of Education was set to consider awarding a bid for steel earlier this week for an Early Childhood Education Annex behind Truman Middle School, 12225 Eddie & Park Road.

The board was scheduled to meet Monday night — after the Call went to press.

Four bids ranging from $319,688 to $389,365 were submitted for the steel work, which includes manufacturing, delivery and installation of the prefabricated metal building. Lindbergh Executive Director of Planning and Development Karl Guyer is recommending the Board of Education approve the low bid of $319,688, which was submitted by TriCo Inc. Commercial.

Officials are fast-tracking the construction of the 12,800-square-foot, single-story ECE Annex, which is scheduled to be completed by July 31. The district sought bids for the steel shortly after the board voted in mid-October to approve construction of the building. Bids were due Nov. 18.

“That’s the first phase of that building,” Superintendent Jim Simpson said of the steel bids. “… We didn’t want to have a useless month or two (waiting) on the fabrication of the steel. Steel has to be made. It’s actually a one-off kind of thing.

“… This is for fabrication of the steel to specs and for a professional steel-erecting company to put that together. Our goal is to have this thing under roof before hard winter comes. I’ll feel a lot better when it’s under roof because then weather doesn’t slow us (with construction) …”

Simpson recommended the construction of the annex to replace classrooms currently housed in Dressel School, which will be demolished next year to make way for a new 650-student elementary building. The new elementary school, scheduled to open in August 2017, will alleviate the district’s booming enrollment growth.

District voters approved a $34 million bond issue in April to fund the construction of the new elementary school, along with critical needs at Lindbergh High School. Projects at Lindbergh High include doubling the size of the cafeteria, creating two science classrooms from existing classrooms, converting a record-storage room into two new classrooms, modernizing the library and replacing the wood floor and bleachers in Gymnasium 3.

The total cost of the annex is estimated at $2.8 million, with the bulk of the cost being funded through district reserves. Construction of the ECE Annex will drop those reserves to roughly $20 million.

Revenue from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Early Childhood Special Education construction fund could pay for 25 percent to 40 percent of the cost of the annex.

The district’s special-education early childhood classes, along with part-day programs of the Early Childhood Center, are currently in seven classrooms at Dressel School, 10255 Musick Ave.

Along with seven classrooms to replace the lost ones at Dressel, the ECE Annex will include a large multi-purpose activities room that can serve as a gym for the Lindbergh Athletic Association, or LAA, intramural program and for physical education classes at Truman. In addition, the annex will include an administrative reception area and LAA offices, which are also housed at Dressel.

All seven classrooms in the annex will include an F-5 tornado shelter.

In a separate matter Monday, the school board was scheduled to consider awarding a contract to construct a salt bin at Sperreng Middle School.

In a memo to Simpson, Guyer wrote that the planned expansion of the Lindbergh High School cafeteria will be constructed over the existing district salt storage area in the Gymnasium 3 parking lot.

“This area must be replaced and relocated before construction work on the cafeteria expansion starts in March,” Guyer wrote. “Lindbergh Facilities developed a replacement area on the Sperreng Middle School campus adjacent to the print shop loading dock and rear access drive.”

Four bids ranging from $89,588 to $105,182 were received for the construction of the salt bin. Guyer is recommending the board approve the low bid, which was submitted by Turcon Constructors Inc.

More to Discover