CUMBERLAND — The School Administrative District 51 Board of Directors on Monday unanimously approved a contract with Ledgewood Construction to build a performing arts center.
The district received eight qualified bids for the project, for which South Portland-based Ledgewood submitted the lowest proposal, SAD 51 Superintendent Jeff Porter said in an interview Sept. 14.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held outside Greely High School – where the arts center will be added – at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2. Ground preparation will have taken place by that point.
Ledgewood’s bid – which included construction of the building, as well as five alternates the district had proposed in addition to the basic project but would not necessarily get funded – came to $8.1 million.
Residents in Cumberland and North Yarmouth on Nov. 8 voted 4,149 to 3,953 – a 2 percent margin – to borrow as much as $9.5 million to build the PAC. SAD 51 has bonded a little more than $6 million for the project, Porter said.
“We’re going to … hold off borrowing the full amount until we know if we’re going to actually use the full amount,” he added.
The superintendent noted that funds for bid and construction contingencies and architect fees are not included in the $8.1 million Ledgewood bid.
“We met our expectation for the base bid amount,” he said. “… We were able to do five alternates because we had the money … and we might be able to do more, toward the end of the project, if it looks like the contingency money isn’t being used.”
The five alternates in Ledgewood’s bid include resilient floor tile for the lobby, a bit more durable and attractive than the tile typically found in school hallways; concrete seat walls in front of the arts center, as well as concrete paving stones for that area; and a black traveler curtain, which sits behind the main drapery and allows students to wait behind the curtains without being seen.
The arts center is due to be complete by November 2018.
Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.
The School Administrative District 51 Board of Directors on Monday chose Ledgewood Construction of South Portland to build a performing arts center at Greely High School in Cumberland.
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