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In less than a week, a company is expected to start building John C. Kimball High School in Tracy.
Construction could begin as soon as next week on John C. Kimball High School, Tracy’s third traditional high school.
The school, on 55 acres on the east side of Lammers Road just south of 11th Street on Tracy’s west side, will be sufficiently completed by August 2009 to permit 650 freshman and sophomore students to begin classes.
Kimball High will have a maximum capacity of 2,400 students when everything is built and four years of students are enrolled, reported Denise Wakefield, director of facilities planning for the Tracy Unified School District.
"It will be a complete high school in every way," she said. "All the facilities should be in place by the end of 2009."
The school will have seven classroom buildings, a library, shops, an administration building, a 400-seat auditorium, a gym-cafeteria combination, a smaller gym, a football stadium like West High’s (with artificial turf, all-weather track and 4,000-seat bleachers), a 30-meter-by-25-yard swimming pool, two baseball fields, two softball fields and parking for 1,200 cars.
Classrooms will be mostly wood-frame, single-story construction, Wakefield said. A gym-cafeteria combo building will be tilt-up concrete.
At this week’s meeting, district trustees gave their final blessing when they OK’d an agreement with the general contractor, F&H Construction of Stockton, for a guaranteed maximum construction cost of $62,818,578.
That maximum-cost figure, determined after F&H negotiated with subcontractors, is fixed, Wakefield said. Changes would have to be approved by the school district.
When land-acquisition costs (not precisely determined yet), offsite improvements and "soft costs" — architectural fees, project management, inspection and equipment — are factored in, the total cost of the new high school comes out to $74,184,903.
Land for the campus is being acquired from the Pombo family and Bright Development through eminent domain, but the price has yet to be determined in court. A hearing is scheduled in June. The district took possession of the property in October.
The project costs will be fully paid by developer fees ($33,877,991), matching state funds ($34,950,936) and interest income, Wakefield said.
"No money from Measure E, the district’s $51 million bond issue passed by voters in 2006, are being used for Kimball High," she stressed.
She said the district is pushing ahead to receive the most from state bond issue matching funds — based on enrollment increases in recent years — and to take advantage of the building slump, which has resulted in lower construction costs.
The district negotiated a contract with F&H Construction on the basis of the firm’s reputation and success in building Weston Ranch and Lathrop high schools in the Manteca Unified School District. Construction of Lathrop High is nearing its final phases.
"Kimball High will have almost the identical appearance as Lathrop High," Wakefield said. "This permits important cost savings that mean the school is being constructed at $232.82 per square foot, a price we’re very pleased with."
She said the contract with F&H Construction is a lease-back agreement that allows the contractor to take temporary possession of the property during construction. This gives the builder flexibility in coming up with cost-saving options that otherwise would have to be approved by the district. When building is completed, the property reverts back to the district.
Initial work, which could begin within a week, includes demolition of a house on the property and relocation of a West Side Irrigation District line. Preparation of the building site then could be started.
Kimball High School is named for Dr. John C. Kimball, a longtime Tracy physician who was team doctor for high school sports teams in Tracy for more than four decades.
Completion of Kimball High will relieve overcrowding on the Tracy High and West High campuses and allow for future growth.
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OMG, Kimball !!!
It's not clear from all the ranting / shrill / troll / more rant / spam
no on garamendi spam
Isn't that blinker's Sports-Park plan A, B, C, D, ... or even ZZZ !?!?!
want a plan? no on garamendi
Does she even have a plan? or just shrill troll rant rant rant?
no on garamendi