Farmington Board Accepts Bid For New High School Construction

FARMINGTON — Farmington School Board voted last week to accept a low bid of $12.9 million from Crossland Construction of Rogers to build phase 2 of a new Farmington High School campus.

If all goes as scheduled, the new school would be finished just before Thanksgiving 2017 and staff would use Thanksgiving break to start moving into the building, said school Superintendent Bryan Law. After Thanksgiving, students would attend class in the new school.

The 99,000- square- foot high school will house academic space, including classrooms and labs, as well as a media center, dining area and office space. It will connect to the school’s new Cardinal Arena and Performing Arts Center on Highway 170.

“We’ve been talking about building a new high school for eight years,” Law told board members as they discussed the bid opening.

Farmington received six bids for the project, ranging from the low bid to a high bid of $14.8 million from Beshears Construction of Fort Smith.

Mark Haguewood, an architect

with Hight Jackson Associates of Fayetteville, recommended the school board accept Crossland’s bid.

“I’ve worked with them on several projects. They’ve all been successful,” Haguewood said.

Haguewood had estimated bids would come in around $15-16 million.

Crossland’s bid was below this estimate by $1-2 million and Haguewood said he was “elated” with the low bid.

“This is $131 per square foot,” Haguewood said at the meeting.

The low bid does not include all costs for the new high school. Other expenses include purchasing kitchen equipment, Hight Jackson’s fee, which is 6.5 percent of construction costs, furnishings for classrooms, labs, offices and fixtures.

Law said high school Principal Jon Purifoy is in the process of meeting with staff to see what their needs and wants are for the new school.

Law did not have an estimate yet for furnishings but said, “I want to get what we need to equip the building.”

The new school will have 38 classrooms and labs, Law said.

The front entrance of the new high school will open into a vestibule that goes into the school office. Coming out of the office, visitors will follow a corridor to a common foyer or central circulation area. From the foyer, students can access hallways going to the west and south, stairs and an elevator to get to second floor classrooms. The student dining area will be to the north.

Law said the bottom floors on the hallways and second floor of the south wing will be used for regular classrooms. The second floor on the west hallway will be used for science classes and labs.

Except for a few areas, most of the school will have polished, dyed concrete on the floor. The bid also includes a separate agricultural building for welding and diesel mechanic classes.