MOSES LAKE — The new Moses Lake elementary school scheduled for construction in Mae Valley should go to bid in late fall. Moses Lake School Board members approved a design for the building at the regular meeting Thursday.

“The goal (is) to bid the project this year, before Christmas and the holidays,” said Matt Whitish of Design West, the lead architect on the project. “The construction schedule hasn’t changed. We’re looking to have a contractor on board at the very early start of 2024, and (to) still have construction completed in time for the school year in 2025.”

Whitish said the project cost is estimated at about $31.28 million, with an option to add eight more classrooms and finish some of the playfields with sod rather than grass seed. Choosing both options would add about $2.92 million to the cost.

Whitish gave board members an estimate of construction costs in March, but that was more of a rough estimate based on square footage, he said Thursday.

“Since then we did complete a full cost estimate. The good news is we came in a little under what we had projected in schematic design,” he said.

The cost estimate Whitish gave Thursday is about $1.4 million less than the March estimate. He said the estimated cost of the eight-classroom option turned out to be about $1.1 million less than originally anticipated. The rest of the project, including the building and site improvements, was about the same as the original estimate, he said.

Board chair Kevin Fuhr asked district superintendent Monty Sabin what district officials had budgeted for the project. Sabin said he didn’t remember, but that the cost of construction has changed - mostly going up - since district officials made that projection. In addition, the district has other capital projects to pay for, he said.

“I’d love to do that eight-class addition in the initial build if we could because it will be a heck of a lot more expensive if we do it later,” Fuhr said.

Board member Shannon Hintz said it also would be more difficult to qualify for funding for an addition. Fuhr asked about the qualifications for additional state funding to pay for the additional classrooms, and if Moses Lake would meet them.

“That’s kind of a complicated question,” Sabin said. “We have the need, it’s just the way they calculate (funding).”

“We’re not foreseeing any big surprises coming up that would significantly alter these estimates,” Whitish said. “There is contingency included, there is escalation included, so we’re tracking right along with what should be a fairly safe (estimate).”

Board member Paul Hill asked how certain Whitish was about the estimate, saying he has experienced substantial cost increases in his building projects.

Whitish said the person who prepared the cost estimate is very experienced and built in some consideration for inflation.

“As we get closer, he will be more certain on his estimate,” he said. “We have another cost estimate we’ll put together in the construction document phase.”

“I think we just have to make choices. There are tradeoffs. It’s really just waiting for bids to come in and see what it looks like. We’ll do the math and see what makes sense,” Sabin said.

The new elementary will have the same basic design as Groff Elementary School, with some modifications suggested by teachers and district officials. It will be 72,920 square feet if board members opt to include the eight extra classrooms. The new school, which hasn’t been named yet, will be located at the intersection of Road 4 NE and Westshore Drive NE.

It will have the same exterior design as Groff Elementary, with green accents rather than blue. The interior color scheme will reflect the exterior, Whitish said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].