A major decision will be made tonight concerning the Partnership School, when the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees considers accepting a bid for the project.
Four bids were opened last week, including base bids of $28,586,000 from the Tupelo-based Century Construction and Realty Inc.; $26,450,000 from the Columbus-based West Brothers Construction Company; $27,866,000 from the Brandon-based Flagstar Construction Company Inc. and $28,200,000 from Thrash Commercial Contracting, also of Brandon.
The board will make its decision based on the recommendation of JH&H Architects, which designed the school.
At the October school board meeting, JH&H Principal Bruce Wood told the board the school’s costs would likely increase by more than $2 million in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
Current contributions to the school stand at $27.5 million, with $12.5 million coming from the district, $10 million from the state of Mississippi and $5 million from Mississippi State University.
Completion is scheduled for fall 2019. The school will be located near the north entrance to the MSU campus across from the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park.
Once complete, the school will serve all sixth and seventh graders in the district and serve as a laboratory for the MSU College of Education.