PORTSMOUTH
City and school leaders are considering working with a private developer to help build a new Simonsdale Elementary School.
Waiting until the year 2013 when the city might begin funding the project could run up the cost of the building to about $28 million, about $10 million more than it would cost if construction began in fall 2009 as originally planned, officials say.
So they're considering using a public-private partnership to help the school building rise from the city's landscape sooner rather than later. No other school division in South Hampton Roads has built a school using such an arrangement.
On Oct. 2, city and school leaders plan to hold an informational meeting for potential private partners. The location hasn't been set. At tonight's School Board meeting, members are expected to vote on procedures for entering a public-private partnership.
"That school has got to get built," Councilman Doug Smith said this week.
School officials had planned to open the new school in 2011. However, a tight budget year, city leaders say, forced the Simonsdale project off Portsmouth's plate.
The delay in funding could put off Simonsdale's opening to 2016, said Assistant Superintendent Dan Pendarvis, who oversees budget and planning for the school division. The current estimated cost of the project is about $18 million, he said.
Simonsdale was built in 1946, Pendarvis said. There are about 230 students enrolled in the approximately 33,300-square-foot school. The school has window air conditioning, an outdated electrical system, limited playground space, no gym and very little natural light, Pendarvis said.
The new school would be about 80,000 square feet. Current plans call for the new building to serve students from the old Simonsdale and Olive Branch Elementary School, and to convert Olive Branch into a preschool center.
City and school leaders say there are any number of scenarios in which a public-private partnership could work.
A private developer could build the school and lease it to the school division for 20 years at an annual rental rate of about $1.4 million, Pendarvis said. After the lease period, the division would own the building, he said.
The lease could be paid through city real estate taxes, he said. A private developer or developers - it could be the same company that built the school - could also buy property in the city, and the city could choose to dedicate taxes generated from those houses on the land as payment for the school division's building lease.
Pendarvis said that six properties in the city have already been identified as potential sites that private partners may be interested in for real estate development.
Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com
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Replacing 2 Schools
I would like to correct the comment by "2cents" - the new elementary in Simonsondale will be replacing the current Simonsdale Elementary as well as Olive Branch Elementary, which has a much larger attendence. Olive Branch, also very outdated, has over 400 students. The new school is not being built for 230 students, but will handle 600-700 students.
Old Simonsdale AND Olive Branch
230 students is the current enrollment from Old Simonsdale...the increased square footage is required to accommodate the current Olive Branch students who will be added to the new school.
Council needs to take a math class
Commercial builders are in a vicious bidding war taking on jobs for cost and sometimes even below cost.
A public school using public money is suppose to be publicly bid. That gives the owner( taxpayers) the best possible value and prevents corruption.
Typically Schools are built on an average of $150 to $200 a square foot.
Lets say this is a fancy high tech school costing $200 a square foot.
If the city put that out to bid they could get it built for under $16 million.
But according to the acticle they are willing to give the work to a private developer for the costs of $28 million.
As a taxpayer I would prefer a $16 million school over a $28 million.
Further more,
Nothing is more empowering than knowledge and education, lets use those $50 million in empowerment bonds to build a school rather than give it to Sen. Lucas so she can build her hotel.
school
give Lucas a job finally trying to get that school built instead of the big dig she is proposing on Portsmouth.that's where your moneys should go to,not something that is going to bleed the tax payers for the next 30 years.aren't our children more important than something that is only to look at and say look at what we have built gee just wish now we could keep it full to pay for itself.10 million savings,now someone in ptown is using their heads,keep on them abut this.politicians don't care they stroke their checks and your hard earned money like it was water flowing down stream.
Waste of space
Do we really need 350 square feet per child? 80,000 sq for 230 students seems more than excessive. It seems all we do now is build these edifices for our elected leaders' outsized egos.