CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT DELAYED BIDS FOR WILSONA REFURBISHMENT NEARLY $400,000 OVER PROJECTIONS.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES -- Wilsona School District trustees have postponed awarding a bid for the replacement of 16 relocatable classrooms at Wilsona Elementary School after bids came in over budget.

The district has been approved to receive state hardship funding to refurbish the school, but bids for the prep work and new modular buildings are nearly $400,000 over the projected cost.

``Right now the bids are too high,'' Superintendent Ned McNabb said. ``We are not sure what we are going to do. We will be meeting with the architect to make a decision on how to proceed.''

Trustees delayed awarding a bid at last week's meeting. McNabb said he will present options at the next board meeting June 9.

A contract must be awarded by late July or the district has to give the money back to the state, McNabb said.

The high bids are being pegged to dramatic increases in construction costs.

The district has available $2.25 million in hardship funding from the state to replace the 16 classrooms. The district spent about $540,000 on architect and inspector fees, leaving $1.71 million for construction.

The bid for the modular buildings came in at $1.25 million and the lowest of three bids for the work to prepare the site was $839,250, McNabb said.

``I don't think we can get the costs any lower,'' McNabb said. ``We might keep the ones we have and do a rehab instead.''

Soaring construction costs also have plagued two other of Wilsona's projects -- the construction of Saddleback Elementary School and expansion of Challenger Middle School -- forcing the district to re-examine building plans to see where costs can be cut.

Wilsona has also been approved to receive nearly $19 million in state hardship funding to build Saddleback Elementary School at a cost of $11.84 million and to add 11 classrooms at Challenger Middle School for $4.54 million.

Design changes include installing three modular buildings instead of permanent ones -- two at the Saddleback campus and one at Challenger -- that would save about $600,000, officials said.

Wilsona also plans to reduce asphalt paving and concrete work and simplify landscaping at Saddleback and Challenger.

Saddleback will be the district's third elementary school. The kindergarten-through-fifth-grade campus will be at 150th Street East and Avenue N-12 and will be designed to hold 750 students.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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