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Costs cause delay in Independence Middle School renovation

By Paul Paterra staff Writer ppaterra@observer-Reporter.Com 3 min read
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The second phase of Bethel Park School District’s Independence Middle School renovation project has been put on hold after costs came in higher than anticipated.

Dr. Zeb Jansante, assistant superintendent, said projected costs of $49 million came in for a project initially priced at $42 million. The renovation is on hiatus until at least summer.

“It was probably about 30% higher than what we had anticipated,” Jansante said. “What we had to do was truncate part of the full building renovation. Everything was going along great until we had this snag of phase two coming in significantly over what we anticipated, so we had to put the brakes on.”

Work on the project includes reconfiguring the school at 2807 Bethel Church Road to include sixth grade in addition to seventh- and eighth-grade students. Fifth- and sixth-grade students in the district now attend Neil Armstrong Middle School.

Jansante said the hope is for work to resume this summer, continue throughout the 2023-24 school year and conclude in the summer of 2024.

“We have a half a year in which no work is being done other than some finishing touches in phase one,” Jansante said.

Initially, the project was to be completed in two phases, but now a third phase will be added.

Phase two originally called for the renovation of the middle school’s second floor along with the auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria, locker rooms and the music wing and was to begin this past December.

Jansante said the gymnasium, auditorium and music wing work has been shifted to a third phase.

“Because of the cost we had to find a way to be creative and that was to make a phase three,” Jansante said. “When our costs came in a lot higher, we had to go back and have our architects redo our drawings. Phase three is currently in limbo. We don’t know exactly when that’s going to occur.”

Jansante said the drawings will be reviewed by SiteLogIQ, the project manager, and hopefully by mid-March a new price will be determined.

Phase one of the renovation included the creation of a separate sixth-grade wing on the first floor, as well as a new administration suite.

“We didn’t add on to the building; we renovated it to accept the sixth-graders when they come over, which won’t be for a couple of years,” Jansante said. “We used that sixth-grade wing as a way to stage and phase different parts of the building. Teachers would move their classroom down while we did those areas.”

The impact on the more than 500 students at Independence Middle School has been limited.

“They went home one day, and their room was moved to a different location,” Jansante said. “There was no disruption to the education,”

The middle school renovation is part of a long-term district plan which also involves the construction of a new $95 million elementary school at the site of Neil Armstrong at 5800 Murray Ave. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will attend school at that new facility, and the district’s five current elementaries will close.

The goal was to have that construction done in two years, but due to a lack of laborers available to do the work, it will take about 32 months to be completed. The hope is to open the new elementary building for the 2026-27 school year as opposed to 2025-26.

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