Taconic Construction Hits Home Stretch, Plans Laid For Move
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Dave DeForest led the School Building Needs Commission on a tour on Monday.
From there, a moving company will be contracted to bring all of the equipment being kept at the current school over to the new one. Teachers will be asked to box up their classrooms and whichever moving company wins the bid will make the transition.
John Benzinger of Skanska USA, the project consultant, said the moving contract is out to bid and that he expects the work to start in early June. The plan is to have the new building fully moved into by Aug. 1.
A group of staff and consultants have inventoried the furniture and equipment in the current building and identified all of the items that will be kept. According to Vladimir Lyubetsky, an architect with Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc., nearly all of the new furniture and equipment has been ordered -- and some is already inside the building.
"We're at the point where all furniture had been bid, well almost all, over 90 percent of the furniture was bid and purchased," Lyubetsky said. "It was a very good process and we hope the furniture and equipment will serve Pittsfield well."
There was also a budget line in the $120.8 million project for technology. Lyubetsky said prices for those items have been secured and the purchasing process is now underway. He said those prices have come in slightly under what was budgeted.
Benzinger said the existing equipment not being used in the new building is going to be auctioned.
"We also started to auction the existing equipment that won't be used in the new building," he said, adding that through the sale of unused equipment already some $40,000 was sold.
He said there is a list of other items, which are still being used, that are lined up to hit the auction block soon. Anything that doesn't sell will go to charity, Benzinger said.
"We have plans and a purpose for almost everything and really trying to use as much as we can in the new building," said Superintendent Jason McCandless, adding that some of the Taconic items not going into the new school will go to another city school.
Project Manager Dave DeForest, of Gilbane, said the project is on schedule. In the late fall, the existing high school will start to be torn down.
Before the school is torn down, McCandless said he will be having tours for community members to take a final trip through. He said there will be a few chances this spring and summer and he hopes to couple a tour with a walkthrough of the new school.
Highlights of the progress include, installations of the gymnasium floor is set to begin on Tuesday, equipment for culinary is being hooked up now and next week cafeteria equipment will be delivered. Work in the auditorium is expected to last until mid-June, as will the terrazzo flooring. There is site work left to do, that workers hadn't been able to start due to weather. DeForest said this week that can ramp up.
Budgetwise, Benzinger said "everything looks good. We are tracking well in the budget." He says the project will be less than the $120.8 million budgeted for it but says it is too early to tell by how much.
School Building Needs Commission Chairwoman Kathleen Amuso said a groundbreaking is currently being discussed for sometime in October.
"I really do think our community picked the right businesses, vendors, and partners to work with," Amuso said. "It has made a very large project a pleasure to work on and be part of."
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