The architectural firm responsible for the Marysville High School’s stadium parking lot project will not be continuing with involvement in an upcoming facility renovation.
The Marysville Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday night to employ MSA Architects to oversee future work on the districts planned stadium renovation. The work will include upgrading the high school football stadium, creating an adjacent track and field facility and creating football and track facilities at Bunsold Middle School.
Schorr Architects of Dublin was involved with creating initial design plans for the renovation and was one of three firms which expressed interest in the work and responded to the district’s request for qualifications.
Schorr was the firm involved in the district’s project to pave the football stadium parking lot and upgrade the adjacent bus garage facility in 2016. That $2-million project ran into timeline issues and was not completed for the 2016 football season, forcing fans to park in the high school parking lot and walk to the stadium for home games.
With a nearly $9 million price tag, to be covered by fundraising and public dollars, and a more complex scheduling framework the district gave the contract to a company with vastly greater experience with stadium projects.
Marysville Superintendent Diane Mankins admitted after Thursday’s meeting the Schorr Architects may have felt it had the “lead” on the upcoming work, based on its history with the district and use for initial conceptual drawings.
But the while the company’s portfolio on its website includes numerous high school and college academic buildings, parks and recreation projects and even various projects for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, it shows no examples of work on athletic facilities.
MSA Architects, however, has an arm called MSA Sport which has handled dozens of stadium projects including the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park, The Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Ball Park, Fifth Third Field which houses the Dayton Dragon, Hobart Arena, as well as projects for Miami, Xavier, Butler, Central Michigan and other universities. The company has also handled numerous high school stadium renovation projects.
The company’s fee for designing the project and overseeing construction is 7.5 percent of the actual construction costs, not to exceed $587,400.
The fees of the other two firms interested in the project were never requested according to district treasurer Todd Johnson. Unlike a traditional bidding process where interested companies submit cost estimates for proposed projects, for architectural and design firm work, companies give their pitch for the project during the request for qualification phase without a fee attached.
Johnson explained that district chooses the company most qualified for the job and then asks for the fee. If the cost is too high the district continues down the list until it finds a workable pricetag.
According to Mankins, MSA was the “standout” among companies interested in the stadium renovation project. The the firms fee will be built into the cost of the project.
Mankins said the district officials will be traveling with MSA representatives next week to gather ideas by viewing other stadium projects the company is handled.
While the $8.9 million pricetag remains in place, other details of the project could be in flux, according to Mankins. She said MSA is currently creating a cost estimate for the requested work and while the overall footprint of the facilities will remain, some details may have to be reworked because the original cost estimate was created by Schorr.
Another issue that will likely be adjusted is the overall timeline of the project. District officials were originally told that the project could be started after graduation in 2019 and ready for the football season in the fall.
MSA has a construction timeline of 10-12 months and recommends beginning with the middle school facility. Because nothing is located at the site of the middle school facilities, work could progress quickly. The running lanes around the middle school field would allow a backup plan if construction of the high school facilities bleed into the high school track season, according to Mankins.
Mankins said the goal is to have the high school football stadium ready for the 2019 season. She also said construction at the high school stadium would not impact graduation ceremonies, but added that there could be construction going on in the area during the event.
She added that the timeline for the project is also impacted by the fundrasing drive which will move into high gear in the coming months. The district has said it will cover half the cost of the project with district permanent improvement dollars but the other half will come from solicited funds.