FAYETTEVILLE — The Board of Education was told a new building with 53 classrooms will be ready for the 2013-14 school year.
Phil Jones of Nabholz Construction Services gave the board his monthly update Thursday on the second phase of a multimillion-dollar project to expand Fayetteville High School.
Passersby can see the new building on the northwest corner of the campus with the facility’s walls and roof completed.
“Most of the work is occurring inside the building,” Jones said after the meeting. “Right now, on the lowest level of the building, we’ve put in the Sheetrock or drywall and begun to do the finish work, paint. We’ve installed some glass and more to come.”
The 299,340-square-foot facility will house spaces for for vocational agriculture and the alternative learning center.
The space also includes room for engineering and technology programs and science laboratories, according to the School District’s website. Construction crews will also build an auxiliary gym and upgrade fire and safety systems along with heating and air conditioning systems.
“We’re at the stage now, as they call it, in the dry, so weather isn’t really a factor for what they’re doing,” said Tim Hudson, board president. “It’s always good to hear from your construction manager folks who say they’re still running on time and expect to open on schedule.”
The second phase costs $46 million, Jones said. Voters in 2010 approved a 2.75-mill property tax increase to pay for the second phase. That tax increase will generate $51 million, according to the district’s website.
“Our contract has a guaranteed maximum price that we cannot exceed, and we’re well underneath that and will stay underneath that,” Jones said.
Gov. Mike Beebe, state officials, district officials, teachers and students in September celebrated completion of the first phase consisting of two buildings fronting on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Those buildings house an auditorium, the student commons and cafeteria, arena, practice gyms, music rooms and other instructional and practice space.
The district financed $45 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds to pay for the first phase, according to its website.