NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Greylock School budget is running about $1 million under budget as of the submission of 60 percent design documents.
Last year's funding agreement with the Massachusetts School Building Authority estimated the cost of the building at $53,405,500, the majority of the $65.4 million project. (No funds have been borrowed for the project yet.)
Last month, the School Building Committee learned the estimate submitted to the MSBA with the 60 percent construction documents was at $52,263,300.
This figure includes screening for the mechanicals on the roof of the new school, an element that had been an alternative add-on
"There's some additional contingency there to protect the project against unforeseen items which could be tariffs," said Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio, the project designer. "Project bids recently have been coming in below estimates and the frankly, the industry hasn't seen the escalation we had planned for back when we were putting together our project budget in June of last year.
"So that's a positive thing, and we hope it continues right through September."
Timothy Alix of Collier's International, the owner's project manager, noted that the independent estimators for the project "are very cognizant of what's going on" with commodities and what might be affected by tariffs.
He expanded on that at last week's meeting of the prequalification meeting — composed of himself, Saylor, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Richard Alcombright.
A similar-value project, a fire station, in Central Mass saw a lot of interest and a bid that came in $6 million under budget, Alix said. That didn't guarantee that bids will come in cheaper when Greylock School goes out in September, but officials are taking it as a good sign.
Alcombright asked if company's are "hungry" for work; Alix thought it maybe a example of firms lining up work "in case things did go sideways" because of tariffs and a softening economy.
Required by state law, the prequalification committee will review submissions and score according to a matrix with requirements such as general contractors have worked on a public school project of a set value within the last decade, their financial health and assurances.
Firms will also have to be certified by the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, which also set the requirements for the prequalification committee.
"This is where we really want to make sure we go through all the submissions carefully," said Alix. "We want to be as inclusive as possible and get as many bidders as we can."
Alcombright, former mayor, asked how these requirements would affect smaller contractors, "does that reduce our ability to promote jobs to local employment?" He noted that this had been priority during the Colegrove Park Elementary School project.
Alix said sub trades not on the DCAMM list that includes masonry, electrical, plumbing, etc., for certification would be selected by the general contractor and be included in its bid. This would provide local opportunities.
The prequalification documents are now available on ProjectDog, an online platform for construction projects. The request for qualifications is also posted on the school district website.
The deadline for RFQs is July 9 by 1 p.m.
The school project is now entering its 90 percent design phase, a period during which the construction documents will be filled out in detail and submitted to MSBA at the end of summer.
Saylor said working groups continue to meet to discuss everything from school security to kitchen layout to office needs.
"There's a lot of beind the scenes work that's happening now," he said.
One of those groups is working on interior colors, which was presented as natural palette with pops of color to indicate grade levels ranging from yellow in prekindergarten to deep blue and teal in Grade 2.
"One of the concepts is that accent colors in the building will help you understand where you are," said Saylor, who pointed two patterns — "fallen leaves" under the tree-like posts and stepping stones. "Kind of a confetti of colors against a neutral gray floor."
Macksey was not a fan of the yellow but Saylor said he could show her the whole presentation of how it would come together.
Last week's School Building Committee meeting was also the last for Superintendent Barbara Malkas, who is retiring at the end of June. Incoming Superintendent Timothy Callahan was voted to take her place on the committee.
(The composition of the School Building Committee is set by and approved by the MSBA.)
Malkas thanked the members of the committee for continuing the important work they are doing.
"I look forward to coming to the ground breaking and then eventually for the ribbon cutting," she said.
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Main & Mill: A Vibrant New Restaurant on Main Street
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can now enjoy another eatery on Main Street by well-known restaurant siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor.
Their restaurant Main & Mill opened for the first time Tuesday, bringing their vision of creating something vibrant and new to downtown North Adams.
"We have created Main & Mill to be part of our day. It's very seasonal ingredients, thoughtful cooking, beauty, beautiful presentation and dishes. And we really wanted to be part of the community, the downtown area, and start a vibrant area on this end, which has been shuttered for a while," said Colleen.
The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry of Latent.
The bank closed in early 2021 and was purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar.
Colleen saw potential and said she initially wanted the building when it first went up for sale. Being good friends with Rothstein and Perry, she helped them design the kitchen and the bar before learning in March that she could lease it as a restaurant space, something she told them would be a great idea.
She said one of the most important things about the restaurant was the collaboration between Rothstein, Perry, and the Wadsworths, who put a lot of time and energy into the building.
"If Sean and I had done it, we would not be able to do what the collaboration supported. The collaboration of the three of us being able to really have that kind of money to put in down here. The design that the architecture firm that Carla and Sal own is stunning," she said. "The time and effort, everyone came together to do this in a really trusting manner."
The two wanted the restaurant to be an all-day venture, so people could eat at any point throughout the day, all week long.
"We wanted it to be open for coffee and socialization in the morning where people can meet, have their cup of coffee, have a quiche, a vegetarian quiche, or croissant or yogurt. Something intentional with their coffee," she said. "Then move into a lunchtime for the downtown business or anybody, and then go into supper, dinner, with drinks later into the evening. So have it really be open all day long, so that there wasn't a void on any particular day."
They also wanted to do something different than the other restaurants they owned.
"We didn't want to mimic any other restaurant in town. We wanted to bring something that was inspiring, something that had some familiar things that people would see, and other things that we would bring to them for them to experience," she said.
As a woman business owner, Colleen said she wanted to bring a female chef into the kitchen.
Colleen brought on Chef Anna DeRose, who she said puts twists on a lot of her dishes.
"So we have a creme brulee, but our creme brulee is topped with marshmallow," she said. "Our creme brulee is like almost two desserts in one. It's a s'mores creme brulee. So you could have a s'mores, and you could have a creme brulee - but when you put both of them together, fireworks go off."
Jake Eberwein showed the committee sections of the nbess.org website, including the resources page, which will be key to keeping residents informed about the study’s findings and collecting information from those residents. click for more
The planes were paper, the buildings cardboard and Main Street was a hallway at Colegrove Park Elementary School, but the setup represented nearly two weeks of creative research and design by the pupils in the public schools' 21st Century Summer Program.
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