Bidding process moves forward for new school in Croydon

The construction of an elementary school in Croydon continues to inch forward.

The Bristol Township school board voted Monday to authorize Schrader Group Architecture and Reynolds Construction Management to proceed with letters of intent to the lowest bidders for the new state-of-the-art school at the site of Mary Devine Elementary School.

The bids, which were received last month, totaled $36,238,125, or roughly $3 million more than expected, Superintendent Samuel Lee said after the meeting. Specifics on the bids and the bidders will not be released until terms are finalized, Lee said.

Construction at the 22-acre site could begin soon after bids are officially accepted and building permits are secured from Bristol Township, Lee added.

The plan is to construct the school at the site of the current building in time for the 2016-17 school year. Upon completion, Maple Shade and Lafayette elementary students will join Devine students in the new school off Summit Avenue.

Approximately 470 Devine students are attending school in the downstairs portion of the district’s administrative offices at Benjamin Franklin School off Mill Creek Road until the new building is complete.

Devine, along with two other schools at the sites of James Buchanan and Ralph Waldo Emerson elementary schools, will replace the district’s nine aging elementary buildings. The schools at Buchanan and Emerson are expected to cost about $38.7 million each to build and be ready for the 2015-16 school year, officials said.

Work at the Devine site was delayed nearly seven months after the issue went before the township’s zoning hearing board three times before receiving approval in October 2013, officials said. The delay played a large role in the school’s higher price tag with building costs increasing because of the improving economy, Lee said.

Unlike portions of the bids for Buchanan and Emerson, officials decided not to rebid Devine with the possibility of the bids coming in even higher, Lee said Monday.

The district might have to borrow more money to complete all three projects because they’re roughly $5 million over budget after securing a $119 million bond last year, officials have said.

The district will save about $1 million a year in operating costs for each school following construction, officials added.

Each new building, divided into two sections, will house up to 1,300 students. One section would contain kindergarten to second grade; the other, grades three to five. However, the new schools will house grades kindergarten to sixth until renovations to Benjamin Franklin and Neil Armstrong middle schools are complete. No timetable has been set as to when the renovations will begin or how the district would pay for the projects.

Source: Bucks County Courier Times