Posted: Dec. 14, 2009

Whitefish Bay — The School District has finalized its contract with architectural firm Bray Associates, which will draw the plans for the small addition to the high school and other modifications that will be done on other district buildings as part of $22.9 million of upgrades approved by voters in November.

Sean Yde, director of business services, said Bray will be paid a five percent fee of the total construction cost of $16,990,000. In addition to the construction, the costs cover outfitting new laboratories and computer labs, for instance.

The district has also selected C.D. Smith of Fond du Lac as the construction manager for the projects and will pay the company a fee of 3.8 percent of construction costs.

"The normal fee is six to eight percent," Yde said. "This is almost half of what it would have been two years ago."

Yde hopes the district will also benefit from low interest rates when it issues the bonds for the upgrades. Consultant Hutchinson Shockey Erley will be doing a request for proposal for the bonds after the first of the year, he said.

The district is in the midst of the design and development phase of the project and hopes to begin construction in June.

 

- Mary Buckley