Owner's rep will evaluate stalled Hempfield Area high school project

Hempfield Area School District’s new owner’s rep, McKinley Architecture and Engineering, will assess the district’s stalled high school renovation project over the course of the next two months and return with their findings.

The school board approved the new owner’s representative contract with a not-to-exceed fee of $30,000 for the initial scope of work with an 8-1 vote. Board member Tony Bompiani voted no during Monday’s school board meeting.

The firm, which has locations in Pittsburgh and West Virginia, will navigate the project for the district as an independent fiduciary and communicate with the district architect, Core Architects, and construction manager SitelogIQ.

The board hired the owner’s rep after the estimated cost of the high school revitalization rose by more than $16 million. The board rejected all bids presented by SitelogIQ in August.

Sean Doyle, McKinley’s director of operations, gave a roadmap of the company’s next steps in the project. Doyle said the firm would do an initial assessment of the first phase of the high school project, which went out for bid and came back millions of dollars over budget.

“(We want) to understand how you got here today, and to really start to investigate on a path forward to make sure that the community and the staff and the board is confident that you’re getting exactly what you should,” Doyle said.

The firm expects to take eight to ten weeks to complete the assessment, and expects to present to the board before Christmas. At the end of the assessment, McKinley will give “insight into options to enhance the overall program,” Doyle said.

“The objective would be that, within that time period looking at early to mid December, we would be coming back with much more tangible, substantial recommendations,” he said.

McKinley will also complete an assessment of the existing drawings for the project and contractual agreement, and a scope review with the contractors. Firm officials will tour the high school on a site visit this week, evaluate the Guaranteed Energy Savings (GESA) scope of work, and look over design meeting minutes and notes.

The firm has already met with Hempfield leadership, SitelogIQ and Core Architects to talk about the project, Doyle said.

“The objective was to get the perspective of each group, to understand how we got here, and then continue to navigate that and bring the groups together to find a path forward,” he said. “Having met with the SitelogIQ leadership group last week and Core Architects, I think the energy is certainly there.”

Board president Paul Ward was optimistic about the help that McKinley could lend to the project.

“Based upon the update we got from Mr. Doyle, from McKinley, I think for me, it’s important for us as a board to have the insight that the owner’s rep is going to bring,” Ward said. “I really appreciate the update, and the discussions we’ve had so far. I look forward to continuing to work with them.”

Ryan Pierce, managing principal at Core Architects, said he is looking forward to working with the McKinley firm.

“I think that (Hempfield) has brought them on board as an additional team member and our goal is to be a team player and to help them help us, and help (Hempfield,)” he said.

The market conditions that have caused issues for the project are “unfortunate,” Pierce said.

“Things just cost more,” he said. “We’re anxious to get back into the project, and get rolling again, and get the scope aligned with the budget, so that at the end of the day, everybody has a project they can be proud of.”

SitelogIQ was not available for comment.

Previously, Garrett Lewis, vice president of business development for SitelogIQ Northeast, said the company was “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.” SitelogIQ Northeast is a Harrisburg-based division of the larger SitelogIQ company, based in Minneapolis.