(Seguin) – The transformation of a local middle school is well on its way. Members of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees received the latest progress report for the renovation of A.J. Briesemeister Middle School. The facilities upgrade is the final 2019 bond project to be tackled.
Providing the update on the campus was Robyn Popa of Pfluger Architects. Popa says contractors are excited about being able to turn over a good portion of the campus to the students this coming fall.
“So, we are on target for the entire project for completion by summer of 2023. We are right now sitting at about 53 percent complete. That is 53 percent as of the contractor’s payout so as far as what they’ve been billed as far as materials and labor on the project. They are saying they are 53 percent through the project. Contingency, we have spent about 45 percent of that contingency and so, we feel very comfortable and confident that that is a good place to be sitting at at this point in the construction period,” said Popa.
Popa says crews have been steadily working throughout the school day to stay on schedule.
“The Seventh Grade House is the one that is furthest along and so what you’ll notice is that they are in the tail end of completion on that wing. We have ceiling grid going up, lights are in, finishes are being applied. We are still waiting for flooring and then once the construction part is complete, then the furniture will start arriving and being installed,” said Popa.
Popa says parents might even also already be noticing some significant changes going on outside of the building.
“Some of the other final things that I’ll highlight is we are starting to get going on the exterior marquee that will greet visitors when they enter the campus. If you have had an opportunity to drive onto the campus, we’ve talked about the fact that the parking lot and the cueing line has been complete and from my understanding is functioning quite well and addressing a lot of the traffic concerns that happened on Court Street during parent drop off and pick-up times,” said Popa.
Popa says crews will be working even harder on their project punch list this summer.
“Pending those items being complete, this is going to be a busy summer as well not just with that classroom wing and the cafeteria and kitchen but everything that you see in yellow is also on the contractor’s docket for work over this summer so that will be the renovation and reconfiguration of the fine arts wing and the conversion of the existing science labs into special education and CTE spaces. That would leave the balance of the work in the campus as highlighted in the pink areas to be worked on after those areas have been turned over. So that compromises the front administration wing, the new library, what we have been calling the Sixth Grade House and the recapturing of what is the temporary library space into CTE classrooms,” said Popa.
Although construction has been steady at the campus, Popa says there have been challenges of keeping up with the original timeline – challenges that unfortunately, everyone in the building industry has been experiencing. While I would like to think that this project has been unaffected by the challenges in the construction industry, unfortunately, that is not the case. We are experiencing a slight adjustment to the anticipated turnover schedule of these areas. Nothing significant or detrimental – about a month is what we are looking at so what we call Segment D which is really going to be what we have been calling the Seventh Grade House obviously whenever it is fully complete and occupied, campus administration can choose how they want to align their grades in the facility but what we have been calling the Seventh Grade House now has a target completion of May of this year and with that, the Segment F which also we have been calling the Eighth Grade House and the cafeteria and kitchen are now slated to be completed and turned over in time for the start of the 22-23 school year so August of this year,” said Popa.
This update is now almost a year later after crews first started working on the project. On May, 4, 2019, Seguin ISD approved a $64.7 million bond package. Included in that package was $39 million for the total renovation of Briesemeister at its current site.
Both Briesemeister and upgrades at Jefferson Elementary School were part of the bond’s Phase Two timeline. Seguin High School’s Matador Stadium which opened up in the fall of 2020 along with the installation of new playscapes at each elementary school were among the projects tackled during Phase One.
