BENTONVILLE -- The School District recently achieved its decade-long goal of opening a new warehouse, although the cost to do so exceeded expectations by $250,000.
The district in 2017 bought the building on Ford Springs Road that once was home to Ambassadors for Christ Academy, then renovated it to suit its storage needs and provide office space for the facilities department.
Financials
The Bentonville School District spent a total of about $4.5 million to purchase the Ambassadors for Christ Academy property and renovate the building to convert it into a warehouse. The district sold its old warehouse on South Main Street in August for $1 million.
Source: Staff Report
Staff members were able to start moving this past fall. The facilities department's two dozen workers were spread across several locations, but the new warehouse brings them together under one roof. Paul Wallace, facilities director, called that a "tremendous" benefit.
"It's just good to have that personal interaction," he said. "Sometimes you could go days without seeing some of your staff because they're out in the schools doing work orders."
A lack of storage space is no longer a problem, either. The new warehouse offers 52,000 square feet compared to the 12,000 square feet of the old warehouse.
Replacing the old warehouse had been on the district's capital improvements list since 2007. Since then, Bentonville has opened several new schools, and enrollment has grown more than 40 percent.
Officials have said they expect the new building to take care of the district's needs for at least the next 25 years.
Unexpected issues
The School Board approved buying the 30-acre property in September 2017 for $2.8 million. Six months later, the board approved a guaranteed maximum price of about $1.5 million to renovate the building. Hight Jackson Associates and Crossland Construction did the work.
The actual renovation cost ended up being $1,750,607, or 17 percent over the guaranteed maximum price, because of unexpected electrical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning issues.
Electrical issues accounted for about $100,000 of the overrun cost. In addition, a county inspector determined several condenser units on the roof, which were there when the district bought the building, were a safety concern because they were too close to the roof's edge. The district moved four of them and added guardrails to two other units, communications director Leslee Wright said.
A guaranteed maximum price covers a specific set of tasks. Crossland Construction completed those tasks at the price agreed to by the district. The electrical and HVAC issues popped up during the course of the project; therefore, they were not part of the price the district agreed to, Wright said.
The district brought in contractors separate from Crossland to perform the additional work and used general maintenance funds to pay for it. Wright insisted the extra cost won't affect what the district spends on students' education.
"The vast majority of construction projects we touch come in at budget, if not under," Wright said. "We're mindful of the fact this is taxpayer money, and we're accountable to them."
Eric White, board president, said the board was made aware of the project's cost overrun immediately after administrators became aware of it.
"I think the board understands it," he said.
White said he's confident administrators did their due diligence to understand what the project entailed prior to presenting the guaranteed maximum price. Once additional issues cropped up, ignoring them wasn't an option, he said.
Bentonville is operating on a budget of about $173.4 million this school year. The district sold its warehouse at 1003 S. Main St. in August for $1 million to 10th and Main LLC, which is renovating the building into office space. That property was appraised at $825,000 in 2017.
Space was needed
A lack of storage space was hurting the district in several ways.
The district previously had to dispose of or sell shelving and furniture that could have been reused. The district couldn't save money by buying supplies in bulk, according to finance director Janet Schwanhausser. The warehouse has a cavernous room with plenty of shelving for supplies.
A worker can drive a forklift into either the refrigerator or freezer. Previously, everything had to be loaded and unloaded by hand into the cold storage space. What didn't fit in the freezer had to be taken to space the district rented in Springdale, a trip that had to be made a couple of times per week, Wallace said.
The warehouse has a loading dock, so materials can be put on or off the truck with a forklift.
Two rooms are set aside for supplies for Adventure Club, the district's before- and after-school program.
Vickie Nichols, who manages the Child Care Enrichment Services portion of the warehouse, said the building has made it possible to operate more efficiently. Deliveries can be at one location before those supplies are dispersed to the schools, whereas before, several locations had to be used.
"This building has just been an absolute blessing," Nichols said. "It's beautiful."
NW News on 01/21/2019