Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School is moving from design development to the construction document phase of its $70 million facilities project.

Cost estimates still exceed the district’s planned budget by about $600,000, with a current price tag totaling about $70.67 million.

The BBCHS District 307 Board gave its unanimous approval Monday for the district to move from design development – where design plans are mapped out in greater detail from the initial schematics – to the phase where official and legal documentation is sought in preparation for the bidding process.

Before Monday’s vote, board members discussed concerns that cost projections still are over budget.

Board member Lubow Lewicky said she wondered if the contingencies might be too conservative.

The contingencies are set at 4% of the overall project cost for construction and 2% each for design and bidding.

“It worries me that we are already starting at the upper level [of cost], so there’s not much of a fudge factor, if at all,” she said.

Bob BeDell, senior project manager with PSI Construction of Kankakee, noted that figures will be locked in at the time contracts are approved for the construction work.

The board will have final approval over accepting bids and major change orders.

Damien Schlitt, director of K-12 education design with BLDD Architects, said the furniture allotment of $1.5 million is a placeholder, not an exact amount.

The base project cost, minus the furniture allotment, comes under the $70 million threshold at about $69.17 million, he said.

“I would say that is the brick-and-mortar project we have designed and estimated at this point,” Schlitt said.

Lewicky noted that she was not questioning the track record of the architects or construction team; rather, she was simply looking at the numbers.

“As a concerned citizen, we have to look at numbers,” she said. “It is our responsibility to be fiscally responsible.”

Construction documentation is set to be brought back to the board in February, when approval will be sought to begin the bidding process.

BeDell said the team would look to fence off the construction area during the week of spring break, with construction slated to start in early April.

Alternate items cut

Schlitt said that since the Oct. 30 operations committee meeting, when design development documents were presented, school officials decided to cut some of the alternates from the scope of the main project.

The projected costs of the alternates aren’t included in the $70.67 million total.

There’s now an estimated $2.375 million in work that will be bid on as alternates, down from $9 million.

Alternates off the table for now include a new administrative suite and front building entrance, which weren’t considered essential to the project’s main goals.

Some maintenance items were removed from the alternates list as well, including roofing upgrades, galvanized piping removal, and a fire alarm upgrade and flooring replacement in the auditorium.

Ramie Kolitwenzew, chief business official for the school, said the district is applying for a matching maintenance grant from the state for the roofing upgrades.

She said it would have been nice to include some items from the district’s 10-year capital projects plan, but the district has funds available for routine maintenance work, along with the available grants.

The three remaining alternate items include moving and lighting the tennis courts for about $1.3 million, installing terrazzo flooring in high-traffic areas of the addition for $926,635, and installing turf in the future courtyard for $133,748.

Bond sale revised, approved

Also on Monday, the board approved the issuance of $7.83 million of general obligation school bonds to pay for the facilities project.

The board OK’d a resolution authorizing the sale of the bonds to Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc.

The bond sale was revised from what the board originally approved in October.

Last month, the board approved a resolution to issue $9.95 million in bonds, but due to an unforeseen issue, the sale could not close.

Selling the first set of bonds below $10 million will allow banks to purchase them at a better tax incentive.

Kolitwenzew said there was an issue with the underwriter on the bond council.

“The first issue did not take into account our bus lease, so they actually priced too much. We didn’t have that available,” she said.

Kolitwenzew said the bond sale still is being divided into two parts in order to minimize interest costs, with the second portion to be done in February.

The adjustment means the second bond sale will be for a larger amount.

The district still will collect the total $62 million from taxpayers that was approved with the November 2024 referendum.

The bonds will mature in 2040 and 2041.