PHOTO BY ABBY KOCH/MARSHALLTOWN COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT — Mitch Broekemeier with Boyd Jones and Tim Turis with Invision Architecture tell the Marshalltown Community School Board about important upcoming dates for the Reimagine Miller project. Bid documents for the project went public today.

The Reimagine Miller project continues moving forward. The Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education approved construction for the remaining bid packages at the regular Monday meeting.

Mitch Broekemeier of Boyd Jones Construction told the board members a lot of things happened during the last few months for the $106 million Miller Middle School renovation. He mentioned the bid packages awarded in November — a $2.2 million precast concrete bid package to Henkel Construction Company of Ames and a $3.1 million glazing exterior glass bid package to CR Glass of Cedar Rapids.

“We did have a contractor outreach event right before Christmas where we had more than 40 contractors show up for, and we had at least half of them that had reached out and said they were very interested,” Broekemeier said. ” . . . It’s great early involvement, great early interest which I think we thought was going to happen with a project of this size and caliber.”

The interest from the subcontractor market is trending in a positive direction, he said.

“The team has really fostered that through reaching out to people and getting people involved early,” Broekemeier said. “Obviously, the Franklin Field helped get that initial ball rolling, and now we’re just starting to see the momentum of that.”

Tim Turis with Invision Architecture presented a few updated design ideas, such as ensuring the commons area is a diverse and robust space that can be used for a variety of reasons.

“This is a multi-function space. It’s not just for lunch hour,” he said.

Turis also highlighted the Success Suite, which is a name they coined for a counseling and wellness center inside Miller where students can help social, emotional, mental and academic help.

“This is the heart of the building that provides those services,” he said.

Broekemeier said as the team provides new renderings and develops designs, they are moving through the additional processes, such as updating budgets. He said the budget is in good standing, and the project is still at $99 million allotted for Miller with a healthy change allowance.

If bid day goes well, Broekemeier said there are a handful of alternates which could be pulled in while still trying to save money.

“We’re trying to get these alternates in actively as we work through this,” he said. “Some will have determination points where we can’t, but the goal is on bid day, we have a good enough bid day where we can pull some of those items in.”

An example of an alternate that Broekemeier mentioned was landscaping in the south courtyard and including limestone seating. Another example is wood-backed seats for the auditorium in keeping with the historical aspects. If the finances allow, they might be able to change to those alternates.

He also told the board the next couple months are important with some impactful dates, with the first being today when the bids are put out.

“The actual bid documents will hit the street, and we will get a set here to the school so that people can stop by and look at them in the district, if they want to,” Broekemeier said. “They will also be in all of the plan rooms, and we will distribute them in our internal system we get out to all the contractors, as well.”

After that first step, he said they will start making phone calls and preparing for the pre-bid meetings set for Jan. 19 and Feb. 4. They will meet in the Miller auditorium and go through all of the requirements of bidding and taking site walks with interested subcontractors.

“Making sure everybody is in the know on everything that is going to be involved with this project, so come bid day, which is set for Feb. 18, we have all of these people showing up with the correct forms, with all of the things required,” Broekemeier said.

Then they will attend the March 2 school board meeting to make recommendations on which contractors should move forward. Following that, Broekemeier said they are targeting a late March site mobilization to get trailers and staging areas set up and in early April, site demolition which does not impact the school will begin.

“Then at that point, you see things start to come to life,” he said. “From there, we’re off to the races with construction. A lot of exciting things to happen over the next month, a lot of effort has went into this, and we have another big, heavy lift in the next month.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext 210 or

bradstream@timesrepublican.com.