First phase of remodel at WVHS set to begin

The West Valley School District on Wednesday awarded Schimmels Construction Development Group Inc. of Spokane the contract for the first phase of the West Valley High School remodel project.

Owned by Gary Schimmels, Jr., the company offered a bid of $831,783 – the lowest of five bidders. The amount is about $260,000 less than the $1.1 million the district estimated the first phase of the project would cost.

“This means we can save a lot of money that we can use in this project as it moves along,” said Dave Smith, the district’s project manager.

Voters approved the construction bond to pay for the $35 million high school remodel in May.

The entire project is scheduled to be done in four phases, for completion in September 2007.

The first phase includes surfacing two parking lots, the relocation of two tennis courts and surfacing an area of the soccer field, which eventually will house portables to be used by students during the other phases of the remodel.

Utility work, including work to the sewer and power lines, also will be completed in phase one.

Northwest Architectural Co. is the designer for the project.

Smith and architect Steve McNutt assured the school board that despite coming in significantly lower than the top two bids, – which were over $1 million – Schimmels, who previously worked for Leone and Keeble Inc. came highly recommended.

“You want to make sure it’s not so low that the person doing it can’t make some money,” Smith said. “But (Schimmels) looked at the project very carefully, and said he could do it.”

Construction will begin right away with a July 31 completion date.

A bid for work on the next phase of the remodel, which includes the high school building itself, will need to be awarded separately. The work on that phase would likely begin in October.