Woodlawn Considers Construction Managers

WOODLAWN - The Woodlawn School Board could decide on a new construction manager for the cafeteria expansion project during a special called meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 18, at the administration building.The school board heard presentations from four prospects during its regular monthly meeting Monday night after it decided to seek new “requests for qualifications” after bids for the project from the district’s original construction manager, Clark Construction, came in well over what the board was expecting.Clark Construction originally estimated the cost for the nearly 2,800 square foot addition would be $2,769,653. However, after the board rebuked that figure, Clark Construction looked at some cost-saving measures with the plans and came back with a reduced “conceptional estimate” of $2,137,571 in last month’s meeting. That figure equated to a cost of more than $760 per square foot. Based on previous conversations the board had with Clark, some of the board members said they were expecting an estimate of about $350 per square foot. The state estimated the cost to be about $250 per square foot, though everyone considered that a low figure.In May, voters in the Woodlawn School District approved a 2-mill tax increase that will generate about $3.85 million for construction. The plan is to combine that money with state partnership funding to expand the school cafeteria and also build a new career education center next to the high school. Earlier this year, the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation awarded Woodlawn $395,3236.28 in partnership money to help pay for the cafeteria expansion and also allotted the district $1,290,334.40 to help fund the new career education center. However, the district only received the state partnership funding for the cafeteria expansion and not the career education center. Still, there is a chance Woodlawn could receive that f...