AMHERST — A new 575-student elementary school, to be constructed at either the Fort River or Wildwood school site, could have a price tag exceeding more than $100 million, according to initial cost estimates brought to the Elementary School Building Committee last Friday.
Even though the full costs might range from $93.7 million to $100.3 million to get a building that meets the town’s net-zero energy use bylaw, Donna DiNisco of DiNisco Design cautioned that her presentation lacks precision, and that committee members, and the community, should see them as “extremely preliminary numbers.”
“There is a whole lot more work to do,” DiNisco said of the charts titled “Preliminary evaluation of alternatives/cost comparisons.” “This is just a test fit.”
The presentation shows that new construction at the Fort River site on South East Street could total $100.3 million, or about $4.37 million higher than the $95.95 million for a similar project at the Wildwood site on Strong Street. An addition and renovation project would be $97.7 million at Fort River, and $93.7 million at Wildwood, for a difference of $4.02 million.
DiNisco’s numbers are based on various scenarios that would lead to a 105,750-square-foot building that would be entirely new construction or a 108,000-square-foot building, at either current school site, that would be done through a renovation and addition. The new project would be completed for the fall of 2026, while the addition and renovation would likely take longer.
Both would meet a school educational program for a K-5 school that needs to be adopted by the Amherst School Committee.
The presentation also breaks down components of the cost, from the actual building work and contingencies, to removal of the existing buildings and asbestos abatement, to site preparation.
DiNisco said that putting numbers before the committee before a full design is ready is an “order of magnitude” survey so members can see the financial impact of their choices. What it does, she said, is to help eliminate options that are either not educationally sound or can’t be done financially.
Margaret Wood, owner’s project manager, said the current work is about trying to get some comparisons between the project sites and the eventual choice that will be made. The Amherst School Committee will pick a solution and then schematic design with significantly more detail will be based on that, Wood said.
Amherst will not know for a while what costs will be the responsibility of the town’s taxpayers and what will be covered by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, though Wood noted the state agency’s contributions have been diminishing.
Meantime, photovoltaics and geothermal systems are expected to be significant cost drivers for the school project. Geothermal alone could cost $3.8 million for the source of heating and cooling the building with no fossil fuels.
Members of the public who spoke advocated that officials move forward with a building that is not just a net-zero-ready building, but one that is actually net zero.