LYNNWOOD – The Edmonds School Board will decide May 8 whether to award a Redmond construction firm a $68.2 million contract to build a new Lynnwood High School.
Cornerstone General Contractors Inc. submitted what appears to be the winning bid.
Construction work could begin by the end of the month, said Ed Peters, the district’s capital projects director.
The district received two bids – one from Cornerstone; the other from Spee West Construction Co. of Edmonds for about $73 million.
Other companies had expressed an interest in the Lynnwood High job but became committed to other projects and crews would have been spread too thin to bid, Peters said.
“It’s within the range we can afford,” Peters said. “That’s why we are recommending approval. We think it does reflect market price. Both companies are very good companies. We were happy.”
The school, which will be built for 1,600 students, is scheduled to open in fall 2009. About two-thirds of the cost of the $90 million is for construction.
Lynnwood elementary students now in the sixth grade will be the first class to attend the new high school all four years.
The 40-acre site is one mile east of the existing Lynnwood High School, near Floral Hills Cemetery on the east side of I-5.
The campus will include one large two-story building with steel framing and a combination of siding that includes masonry and metal panels.
Logging has wrapped up on the once heavily-wooded site.
Some of the timber will be used for benches, trim and interior paneling in the new school. The contract with Sierra Pacific Industries of Mount Vernon will also provide about $425,000 toward construction costs.
“Things are definitely ramping up,” said Debra Born, project manager for the district. “But we have time to do the job right.”
The Lynnwood High project is the centerpiece of a $140 million bond measure approved by voters in February 2006.
The high school project has been awarded $500,000 from the state because of its environmentally friendly design.
The state awards construction money to projects on a competitive basis. Winners must be built to last, energy efficient and make wise use of resources.
The new school will have more teacher control of individual classrooms, including operable windows and ceiling fans to move air around. Special attention is being paid to natural air flow and acoustics, Peters said.
Cornerstone has worked on school projects before, including expansion projects at Bellevue’s Interlake and Newport high schools.
The $46.5 million Newport project included demolishing eight of 12 buildings and replacing them with a new 145,000-square-foot three-story classroom, library and administrative wing building.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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