Chadalac05 Posted May 9, 2019 Report Share Posted May 9, 2019 Thats really exciting news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted June 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2019 The Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees announced its choice for two construction managers at risk for upcoming construction projects June 7th. At the regular meeting Thursday, Superintendent Lynn Torres presented the district’s two recommendations for the construction managers at risk — Berry and Clay Construction and Langston Construction. The contractors could bid on one, two or three of the possible bond projects: the middle school, the high school multipurpose facility and the high school baseball/softball complex. Berry and Clay out of Rusk was awarded the bid for the middle school and the high school multipurpose facility. “They’ve been in business for 41 years,” Torres said. “They’ve completed in the last few years 59 different projects with Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong. One of the things that was a great selling point for them is that over the past three years, they’ve put $15 million back into the Lufkin economy.” The company’s hiring base is in Lufkin and Nacogdoches, and Torres said they have a service attitude and are working with the architect — Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong — to cut costs wherever possible. Langston Construction was awarded the bid for the baseball/softball complex. Torres said they bring a wealth of experience and are a local firm. Torres and a sub-committee of the board made up of Scott Skelton, Matt Knight, Hall Henderson and Deputy Superintendent Kurt Stephens traveled to see facilities that these companies have built for an up-close-and-personal look at the quality of the work. “We felt like if we were going to spend $60 million on a middle school, we needed to go look at some middle schools,” Skelton said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted June 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2019 They have missed their projection to start the new project dirt work. Projects always have delays for one reason or another. Did project work for 35 years and this happens 85% of the time, especially big projects. May not be now until after football because the foundation and dirt work will take a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadalac05 Posted June 27, 2019 Report Share Posted June 27, 2019 Do they know when they will start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted July 12, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2019 On 6/27/2019 at 2:24 PM, Chadalac05 said: Do they know when they will start The ADM keeps saying the gym and Baseball/Softball Complex will start this summer before school starts again. They have about a month before school starts again and there is nothing going on as far as the new construction or repairing the scoreboard or the 900 pot holes or however many there are, in the driveway around the stadium. I think they wait to do all that stuff after the coaches get back from the THSCA meetings or it doesn't happen until after football season. That still gives them about 45 days before the season opener to repair scoreboard. I've seen too may projects like this, it will be after football season and any playoff games we host at Abe. Then it will be a go. Working to finalize design approval, bids and contracts takes time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted August 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2019 The selection of the design the district wants to use and what they can afford takes time. The bidding process is usually on a deadline, this is then followed by the school board selecting which bid proposal to accept. Contract agreements, legalities and such follow. That could be where things are right now or most likely at the end of this process. With the football season right upon us, it would be my weighted guess the new gym/softball/baseball /tennis courts construction and new driveways and reopening the old Junior High East Road, won't begin until after football.. This project is a huge undertaking. The new GYM project is probably going to entail a little more work to be done in and around the stadium area and in all probability will have it's start after the football season is over. Just a logical guess knowing what is known. Trust me on this. One reason is because the scoreboard production booth on the south end where the scoreboard is located, needs to be moved for that work to begin and we are too close to the start of the season for that to happen now without a major snafus occurring. The district has sold 40M of the bonds to date and have announced that the other 35M will be sold in the next few months. We are talking 18 months to finish ALL these new projects on the Lufkin High campus. The new Middle School will be done in phases and will take at least 3 years to finish. Patience is the word here because nothing ever moves quickly in most ISD worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Nothing starts until December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack007 Posted August 14, 2019 Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 5 hours ago, PackAttack said: Nothing starts until December. Wow....Chad was right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavchamp2017 Posted August 20, 2019 Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 PA.... I remember you asking about the new pressbox we constructed last season. I never got a final pic to you. I’ll have some photos of the inside in a few days I hope. But this was the final product from outside. $1.3M later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted August 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 This is very nice and something I wish Lufkin would do as well. Long over due. Thanks for the pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadalac05 Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 Does that press box connect to the stadium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted August 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 18 minutes ago, Chadalac05 said: Does that press box connect to the stadium? Looks like it does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted September 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2019 Everyone was talking about starting these new projects back in June, 2019. Obviously, that has been delayed. The last thing the LDN announced was that LISD had sold $40M of the $75M in bonds and the rest were being offered in a future sell date. We all know that the football season and all the construction around Abe Martin would be a hindrance to navigating in and out and around the stadium. There are other things to consider as well, but the football season is most likely the main reason. Lufkin has 6 games at home this year so no need to disturb that process. There is also cabling that runs underground to the production booth and Scoreboard/ Video Screen that should not be disturb. The district has not given any real updates since July, but I'm sure decisions are being made and they will announce their updated plans soon. For sure, this means that none of the basketball, baseball or softball will be played on these new additions this season, it will be 2021 at the earliest for the baseball/softball complex and any use of a new Gym. That is a huge project. Just assuming a December, 2019 start , that would be a minimum 16-18 months for completion, that would be March, 2021 maybe, before they ever bounce a basketball. There may be some other things being considered as well, we will just need to wait and see what transpires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack007 Posted September 16, 2019 Report Share Posted September 16, 2019 Smdh....i hate when Chad is right about stuff. That’s several years away to wait on the new gym. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted October 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2019 Lufkin trustees discuss bond projects By GRACE JUAREZ/The Lufkin Daily News The Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees discussed updates to the bond project during its regular work session Tuesday. Stephen Berry with Berry & Clay Construction, construction manager for the multipurpose facility and the middle school projects, discussed a potential guaranteed maximum price for the multipurpose facility. The anticipated price was $215 per square foot. However, thanks to quite a few bids that came in, the price came out to $208.14, he said. The original square footage was set at 45,000, but the current total is 65,200 square feet. Clay said that after he spoke with those who would be using it, the additional space was determined necessary to properly serve students. “The building is actually 20,000 square feet bigger than the bond, but that was more or less because we added an auxiliary gym to the back and we increased it so we could have cross court,” Clay said. “These were all things that the district as a group felt was best for the overall use of the facility.” Superintendent Lynn Torres and several board members commented, pointing out the need and thanking the company for approaching the building plans in the way they did. “I don’t think people realize how gym-short we actually are currently at the high school with just the purple and the gold gym and having to run adaptive P.E., P.E. classes, drill team, cheerleading and so forth,” Torres said. “This actually puts us in a better position.” “We’re gym poor, and from a functionality standpoint, our high school doesn’t operate well, and won’t, for game nights, especially tournaments, if we don’t do the facility in the way it’s designed now,” trustee Hall Henderson said. The design process began by asking all involved for everything in their wildest dreams. That resulted in a design that was 99,000 square feet. Then the designers scaled back and scaled back until they couldn’t scale anymore unless they wanted to take away from the students’ experience, Clay said. “I appreciate the fact that ya’ll went to the people who were going to be using it and said, what’s your wildest dream?” member Allison Langston said. “Now let’s edit that dream to what we need to have, functionally, to make this work for our students and our coaches and everybody involved.” The total price of the project comes out to $13.6 million. Local companies will receive $3.8 million for their work on the project. Board president Scott Skelton asked how they stood on the plans for the middle school so they could better make a decision on the multipurpose facility. Clay said they anticipate being finished with plans on the middle school in late January, and that will allow them to achieve a guaranteed maximum price in February. “I would like to see us breaking ground the first of March,” Clay said. “Other than some calamity, I foresee the middle school will come within budget, and if it doesn’t, we will get it there.” The projected square footage on the middle school was 217,000. The current plans are 217,500 square feet. The budgeted price per square feet was $187.50 for new construction, $68 for renovated construction and $9 for demolition. The board did not discuss a guaranteed maximum price for the baseball, softball and tennis facilities. The board also discussed several purchases of more than $50,000 that will need approval. Those purchases include: ■ $65,000 to Arbiter Sports for UIL services ■ $96,800 to Tipton Ford for Explorers for police vehicles ■ $157,000 to Tipton Ford for seven maintenance vehicles ■ $74,000 for the Edgenuity state license for secondary campuses ■ $103,000 for the Region VII Education Service contract No decisions were made during the work session. All action will be taken at the regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday. Grace Juarez’s email address is grace.juarez@lufkindailynews.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted October 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 Lufkin ISD and the School Board , Officially broke ground on the new projects tonight at the football game. Someone had set up a tent and spread a little dirt on the ground. All the administrators had on construction helmets and gold painted shovels in hand to break ground on the new projects. This was a very nice sign to see that these projects are all about to begin. https://www.ktre.com/2019/10/26/webxtra-lufkin-isd-breaks-ground-new-basketball-facility/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Panther Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 Saw today where school board has decided to take 1/3 of the fields away.Now thats what i call a lot of nerve.Here we take away already and built it halfa$$.But what do i expect from folks that come into town from somewhere else and run things.First class school is what we need,build it right.Cutting here and there might be good now,but it will come back in the long run to bite you.Dont cut on the Middle school either,which i think has already happen.We can have two administration buildings,new trucks for maintenance, raises,helpers for the teachers assistants,hire minorities that cant speak english and the list goes on and on and on,kinda like the United States budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LufkinPack Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 11 minutes ago, Lost Panther said: Saw today where school board has decided to take 1/3 of the fields away.Now thats what i call a lot of nerve.Here we take away already and built it halfa$$.But what do i expect from folks that come into town from somewhere else and run things.First class school is what we need,build it right.Cutting here and there might be good now,but it will come back in the long run to bite you.Dont cut on the Middle school either,which i think has already happen.We can have two administration buildings,new trucks for maintenance, raises,helpers for the teachers assistants,hire minorities that cant speak english and the list goes on and on and on,kinda like the United States budget. It’s Lufkin. You didn’t expect anything different did you? Lol.... We are the halfa$$ capital of Texas. The whole city, school district, parks & rec, everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 To your point, I agree. It's the coaches offices, storage and dressing rooms they are reducing, not the fields. We should go ahead and spend the $$$$ on the facility to make it the best possible the first time in order to handle future growth. Look, 2600 sq ft is not that much, my house is almost that and your right, it's pay me now or pay me later. Then again, we built a 2300 ft house instead of the planned 2800 sq ft house originally because of our budget issues too. About 10 years later we added 200 sq ft. Same thing here, except with Bond dollars. On the other hand, it's much better than what the baseball and softball have have had for years, that is almost nothing. Baseball finally built a dressing room a few years ago at Morris Frank. Girls didn't have anything. So, from that perspective, plus new turf fields with LED lighting, this still looks like a great proposal and the district is willing to go ahead and spend 1.5 to 2 million more than they had budgeted originally. That 2600 ft can be easily added at some time in the future, they will have the space to expand.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 This drawing minus the concession stands on each end and a reduction in office, dressing room and storage, Storage and concessions were moved to under the two new press box areas. The concessions and storage reduction on the main building is probably a good chunk of the sq footage eliminated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 By GRACE JUAREZ/The Lufkin Daily News Representatives from Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong presented updated proposed plans for the ball field construction on the high school campus funded by money from the $75 million bond passed last year. This proposed plan is 6,923 square feet, 2,600 square feet less than the original plans. It would cost somewhere around $7-8 million. The fields were originally estimated to be 7% of the $75 million bond or $5.25 million. Mark Strong and Hudson Henderson said they compressed rooms, reduced interior corridors and opened more of the facility to the outside to cut as much square footage as possible. “When we first started cutting things, we were taking a red pen to the plan,” Henderson said. “After the conversations we had, and on this revision, I didn’t take a red pen. I took a pair of scissors.” While these changes still allow for everything a student athlete should need, the changes will be felt, Henderson said. Things are smaller, things are different, rooms are missing, hallways are missing. “One of the big things we did — I know there was some big debate in the past about whether there should be one concession stand or two — you’ll notice concession stands are no longer a part of this building,” Henderson said. “The storage rooms that are underneath the press boxes at each field will now serve as the concession stands.” Athletic Director Todd Quick told the board this plan looked good — the students could deal with smaller facilities. His concern was making sure they kept the integrity of the turf fields. “Our main concern was the turf because that’s where we’re going to spend about 99% of our time,” Quick said. “Very little time is going to be spent in here.” The general consensus of the board seemed to be that this was the most they could cut from the plan, and they needed to go with it and get it out for bid for a guaranteed maximum price. “We’re going to spend forever if we don’t nail it down,” board member Hall Henderson said. “At this point, I think we’ve reached the point of the integrity of the project.” “These are your minimum necessities to maintain a baseball/softball complex,” Hudson Henderson said. The board made no action during this work session. Action may be taken during the next regular meeting Thursday evening. Grace Juarez’s email address is grace.juarez@lufkindailynews.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 New Gym at Abe Martin Complex. You can see the current Video/Scoreboard in the middle of the drawing. It is being built 8 ft behind the scoreboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 Another look at Gym from a couple different angles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackAttack Posted November 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 One thing that bothered me all year is how the school could not get 4 different sign companies to follow through and replace the sign at the top of the Abe Martin scoreboard. Local companies and one from out of town. Those local companies would come out and look at the sign and never come back. Also wish they would add LUFKIN ISD to the top or bottom of the board . Seems like so many new stadiums are being built in 5A and 6A. Most at least have the new turf and new LED Video boards and new press box to accommodate people. The Texas High coaches had very little space in Abe's PB and the Frisco Independence folks had none and sat in the stands next to us. Also, they could not believe how people are required to get in and out of that press box. Climbing a ladder, opening a door and stepping in at the same time. You know your in good shape if you make it in and down again, without falling to your demise on the concrete steps below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack007 Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 It’s going to take them ten years to finish anything. Can’t even put the 2001 title sign back up. Why are people coming to look at and then leaving? That’s crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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