Hempfield chooses owner's rep to navigate stalled high school project

Hempfield Area School District hired McKinley Architecture and Engineering this week to work as an owner’s representative in the preconstruction phase of the district’s high school renovation project, which has been on pause since bids came back millions of dollars over budget.

The firm, which has locations in Pittsburgh and West Virginia, will navigate the project for the district as an independent fiduciary. Board members voted 8-1 this week to work out a contract with the firm. Board member Tony Bompiani voted no.

The search for an owner’s rep was prompted by ongoing struggles with the cost of the planned high school revitalization. The board rejected all bids presented by construction manager SitelogIQ in August, after estimates came in much more expensive than initial projections.

“Any additional insight we might be able to provide as an architecture and engineering firm that works in construction would be beneficial to everybody,” said Sean Doyle, McKinley’s director of operations. “The most important thing is for the school and the team within Hempfield to know that they have somebody within their walls, on their team, that is helping them to make decisions.”

Next steps

The goal of the owner’s rep will be to understand the objective of the school board and the leadership team and to “work collaboratively with the current groups under contract to find a path forward” for the stalled project, Doyle said.

Construction manager SitelogIQ is “looking forward to finding out whether (McKinley) can have a positive impact on a taxpayer-funded project that will be hugely beneficial to the teachers and students of the (Hempfield) community,” according to Garrett Lewis, vice president of business development for SitelogIQ Northeast. SitelogIQ Northeast is a Harrisburg-based division of the larger SitelogIQ company, based in Minneapolis.

Communication has been scarce between the district and SitelogIQ since the bids were rejected in August, Lewis said.

“I think we’re interested to find out what this means for SitelogIQ and the other professional parties that are engaged in professional development with Hempfield Area School District,” he said. “We are as interested to see the contract as you are, to see what all is included as far as the scope of services for McKinley.”

The cost of the new role was not immediately available, as the contract has not yet been written and will be developed with the school solicitor, said Vince DeAugustine, buildings and grounds committee chair. He expects to see the contract in two weeks.

“I believe that the hiring of McKinley Architecture and Engineering as our Owner’s Rep is a big step toward getting the high school renovation project back on schedule and back on budget,” DeAugustine said in a statement. “In due time, I believe we will see significant savings and be on our way to a high school the entire community will be proud of.”

The district received four applications for the role, according to DeAugustine. Doyle said, while the contract still is in progress, he knows McKinley will not be paid in the form of a percent of the construction value.

“It’s more important right now that we spend some time helping them review the situation and identify a plan to move ahead,” Doyle said.

Board opinions differ

Some board and community members, such as Bompiani, have raised concerns that hiring an owner’s rep could cost the district unnecessarily.

Bompiani said he was pleased with how the contract was being developed but could not reveal details. He was more frustrated with the way the board was going about addressing the high school project as a whole and especially is concerned about the ongoing delays to construction, which originally was intended to start in August but won’t happen until next year at the earliest.

“We should be trying to repair our problems with SitelogIQ rather than trying to bring somebody else in to catch a problem,” Bompiani said, saying he thinks SitelogIQ has done “a fine job.”

“This project won’t go forward in a taxpayer-friendly market until we change the scope of the project,” he said. “The project is too large. We can’t afford it. The taxpayers can’t afford it.”

Architects from SitelogIQ said in August the project in its current form would have cost about $150 million, or $148 million with accepted alternates. That was a jump of $16 million to $18 million from the $132 million price tag that was predicted at a June town hall meeting.

SitelogIQ cited inflation, labor shortages and supply issues for the spikes in cost.