Hempfield Area School District is soliciting new bids for its high school renovation, a massive undertaking now carrying an estimated $150 million price tag.
The move marks a formal restart for the project, which has been stalled for approximately 30 months after initial bids exceeded the district’s projections.
Superintendent Mark Holtzman, who assumed leadership in July 2023, said the current solicitation encompasses all three phases of the project. Pending a successful bidding process, the district expects to break ground this June, with construction estimated to conclude in June 2029.
This new bidding approach is a departure from the previous attempt, which only addressed portions of the work.
“Within 18 months here, we’re out to bid today and with a lot of optimism. I think the future of this project is going to really help shape the county,” Holtzman said. “Nobody has what we’re trying to accomplish here with the pure size and commitment, and also being able to manage it financially responsibly.”
Administrators aim to bring the bid results before the school board for a vote on March 30, said Assistant Superintendent Matthew Conner.
“To see it come to fruition is great,” he said, “and I can’t imagine what it will be like when we break ground.”
District pitched project in 2020
The renovation has been a topic of discussion among district officials, parents and students for about five years.
A feasibility study approved in December 2020 was advanced in April 2021 when the school board hired Minnesota-based SitelogIQ to complete the nine-month assessment for $22,500.
The school board decided in March 2022 to gut and renovate the high school, initiating a borrowing plan the following month to pay for the project. The project was assigned in January 2023 an estimated $128 million budget — which climbed to $132 million that June.
When bids came in higher than expected for the first phase of the project in August 2023, SitelogIQ estimated the renovation would cost between $148 million and $150 million.
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• Hempfield Area drafts 3D designs for high school renovation• Hempfield reviews visions for high school renovation project after construction stalled last year
• After hiring new architect, Hempfield ‘moving forward with a stronger team’ for renovation project
• Hempfield high school project plan is millions of dollars over budget, must be revised
Despite the increased costs, Holtzman noted that the current version of the project is more comprehensive than the 2023 iteration, covering the entirety of the three-phase master plan.
Architect Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, hired in April 2024, laid out visions for the current version of the project that October, and the school board advanced a schematic design last May. District officials drafted 3D designs for the renovated building in August.
Conner applauded Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates for their work on the project.
“The professionals this time around — it was a very detailed, thorough approach,” he said. “We spent time looking at the educational programming that currently exists. We spent time working with all of those teachers, the administration, about the vision for the future and what that education is going to be.”
‘A long time coming’
Included in the first phase of the project is a two-story addition on the front of the school, connecting the auditorium to the pool. The district plans to use this space as an innovation center — which could include offices for school administrators, a media center, a school store, an innovation lab, collaborative spaces for students and flexible-use classrooms.
Between a third and a fourth of the high school’s classrooms have been closed off since the start of the 2023-24 academic year, when the district’s ninth grade students were shifted to the former Harrold Middle School building. These classrooms will be renovated in the first phase, Holtzman said.
The high school’s swimming pool, auditorium and roof — along with the field house roof — also will receive upgrades in the first phase, he said.
Additional classrooms, the cafeteria and the library will be addressed in the second phase.
Contractors in the final phase will expand the field house lobby, renovate the inside of the field house and the back section of the high school and rework the parking lot, Holtzman said.
Construction is estimated to wrap up in June 2029.
“(The renovation) is critical to the future, not only of our sending communities, but our school district family,” Holtzman said. “This has been a long time coming.”
School board President Jerry Radebaugh and buildings and grounds committee Chairperson Vince DeAugustine could not be reached for comment.
