Construction costs force cuts in Anderson School District 5

Rising construction costs have Anderson School District 5 officials scaling back plans for an auditorium at Calhoun Academy of the Arts and cutting the square footage of a new middle school on Dobbins Bridge Road.

School district trustees learned Thursday night that both projects would need to be scaled back to stay within their budgets.

The budget for Calhoun’s auditorium is $3.1 million, but to build the 20,000-square-foot, 1,000-seat auditorium they envisioned would have cost $6.5 million, according to architects at McKay Zorn & Associates.

Several parts of the design — corridors leading from the stage to the lobby, a prop storage room, two screen walls and an orchestra pit — were cut from the base bid to lower the square footage. The firm also reduced the auditorium capacity from 1,000 to 800 seats to drop the cost down to $3.5 million. The deleted items still will be included as alternates the district can choose to pursue should it have the money.

“I’m really disappointed in our estimate efforts,” Trustee Chuck Alewine said. “…We’re not even close to what we proposed or promised.”

Calhoun Principal Ann Self said the school has been using NewSpring Church’s auditorium in Anderson and filling approximately 2,200 seats, so even with 1,000 seats, the students still would need to put on multiple performances.

Facing similar issues at the new middle school, trustees learned that their vision of a three-story, classical building will have to be adjusted to a one-story structure in order to stay within budget.

The rising price of steel and concrete eliminates some of the savings of building multiple stories, such as having one roof, said David Lindsay, a construction management consultant hired to help with the project.

The school’s anticipated capacity is 800 students, but that can be expanded to accommodate 1,000. The new design reduced the classroom sizes, stage areas in the auditorium, the number of offices and tightened the guidance office space to drop the building’s to134,482 square feet.

“It looks as though – as much as I hate that – that we’re going to have to go to a one story,” Superintendent Betty Bagley said.

Cost estimates for the middle school were not available yet Thursday.