The expected cost for Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School’s major facility project is $70.6 million, down from the previous estimate of $75 million.

As District 307 works through the phases of its Building Better facility project, the architects and construction team continue to refine designs and cost estimates.

On Thursday, Damien Schlitt, director of K-12 education design with BLDD Architects, presented updated renderings along with an updated budget to the BBCHS operations committee.

The current phase – design development – is where the schematic designs are refined, building materials are selected, engineering systems are analyzed and general structural details are finalized.

“We’re really making sure that the building works,” Schlitt said.

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Renderings show updated plans for Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School's Building Better facility project. (ADM)

If approved by the BBCHS school board during its Nov. 10 meeting, the district will move on to the construction document phase, where official and legal documentation is sought in preparation for the bidding process.

The total base project cost is now $70,673,798.

For BBCHS, the budget is $70 million, including $62 million from taxpayers and $8 million from the district’s reserves. Voters approved a referendum to fund the building remodel and addition in November 2024.

When the schematic designs were presented this summer, the total base project cost was $74,986,851. That figure had been pared down from initial estimates of about $90 million.

“We heard loud and clear, last time we spoke, that as we work through it, we love the design and layout, but we want to make sure that we’re at our $70 million budget as a target, or have a way to get to that,” Schlitt said.

The current estimate includes a 4% construction contingency of $2.34 million, as well as 2% contingencies for both design and bidding, at $1.17 million each.

The 2.75% construction management fee for PSI Construction comes out to about $1.68 million. The design fee costs about $4.21 million, and the furniture allotment is $1.5 million.

Bob BeDell, senior project manager with PSI Construction of Kankakee, noted that some of the costs above the $70 million budget could be absorbed if contingencies aren’t fully spent.

“I think the bidding process will sharpen these numbers up,” BeDell said. “I feel comfortable with where we’re at.”

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Blueprints show updated overall first floor plan for Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School's Building Better facility project. (Provided by BLDD Architects)

On chopping block?

To reduce costs, some planned items are being proposed as alternate bid items.

In total, about $9 million in alternate bids are listed. The most expensive item is the new administrative suite and front building entrance at $3.88 million.

The suite would combine administrators’ offices, student support services and counselors’ offices all in one area.

“All of these functions are currently happening in the building, they’re just in different spots,” Schlitt said. “... All those spaces could remain in their current locations, and we would still have the functionality that needs to happen.”

Schlitt said the alternates don’t affect the district’s ability to accomplish the main goals it established when embarking on the project.

The alternates also include a circle drive in the front parking area, courtyard turf, tennis courts, an auditorium fire alarm upgrade, galvanized piping removal, and certain flooring and roofing upgrades.

Schlitt said it would be easy to get bids on these items and then decide whether the work should be included with the main project or possibly done later.

“You can’t make the field house 5 feet longer later,” Schlitt said. “You can’t add a classroom later.”

Superintendent Matt Vosberg said he’s excited about where the district is at with the project.

“Each phase brings more detail to the plan and makes it more real,” he said.

As far as the budget is concerned, Vosberg noted that the costs are not final until bids come in and are approved by the board.

“We can make modifications as we need to, but I feel pretty good about where we’re at financially,” Vosberg said. “We’re looking forward to making these improvements for our students.”

The challenge, he said, is taking a building that was constructed in the 1940s with nine additions and creating a layout that feels like it was built all at once for modern use.

It seems that still will be accomplished, even after having to pare down the initial plans.

“We’re still going to meet all the needs that we communicated to the community about why we need to do this work,” Vosberg said.

Goals include getting students under one roof by eliminating mobile classrooms, having adequate cafeteria space to reduce the number of lunch hours, updating learning spaces to align with the needs of programs, and improving the flow of foot traffic within the building with a new circulation spine.

Academic departments across the school are being organized into hubs, each having their own classrooms, faculty support and office spaces located together.

With the planned redesign, the current weight room is slated to become the library media center, with the English department overlooking it from the second floor.

Performing arts spaces also will have a centralized hub, and the science department will be gaining additional lab spaces.