District U-46 School Board members are planning to sign off on contracts worth more than a combined $208.4 million related to the construction of one new school and the renovation/expansion of two others.
George Sollitt Construction Co. of Wood Dale will be paid $52.4 million for the work needed to convert Hawk Hollow Elementary School in Bartlett into a middle school for up to 750 students in grades 6 through 8.
“I was actually gratified a little bit to look at these six bids (the district received for the project), and (see) they weren’t actually that far off from each other,” board member Kate Thommes said. “So that lends credence to believing that we got a good deal.”
Sollitt is to renovate 58,000 square feet of existing space and add another 92,000 square feet, according to documents provided for Monday’s meeting.
Each grade will have its own science lab, grade-level teacher planning space and flex teaching space. The addition will house a new library, gym, auxiliary gym and cafetorium with a full-service kitchen and new rooms for culinary arts and music programs will be created.
Work is expected to be completed by July 2025.
Contracts will also be inked with DLA Architects of Itasca to design a new middle school on 12.4 acres at 2604 Rohrssen Road and to draft plans to renovate and expand Kimball Middle School at 451 N. McLean Blvd. Both locations are in Elgin.
U-46 officials estimate the new school will cost about $100 million to build and the Kimball project about $56 million. Both are expected to be completed by July 2026.
All three contracts were tentatively agreed to Monday and will be formally approved at the board’s Nov. 6 meeting.
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Deputy Superintendent of Operations Ann Williams told the board that each of the Elgin middle schools would hold up to 1,125 students. The addition at Kimball is to add 47,000 square feet to the building and the new school will have about 100,000 square feet of space.
DLA would receive 6.5% of the final cost of the new school project and 7.85% of the final cost for Kimball.
“Renovations typically cost more because of the amount of work entailed when you’re going into an existing structure and updating and modifying it,” Williams said. “I negotiated really hard for the new middle school because of the large dollar amount.”
Board member Dawn Martin said it is not uncommon to see lower fees for architectural services on new construction projects compared to renovations and additions.
At the Nov. 6 meeting, the board also will hold a work session about selling $35 million in bonds as well as using a portion of the $179 million in voter-approved bonds for the construction work. The latter was approved in an April referendum.
A public hearing and more discussion about the $35 million bond issuance will be on the agenda of the board’s Nov. 13 meeting. Formal approval is expected at the board’s Nov. 20 meeting.
Of the referendum bonds, Williams said the first $62 million will be issued in January or early February, depending on market conditions. By law, the district has until April 2028 to issue all of the $179 million in referendum bonds, she said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.