The renovations of R.C. Hinsdale are all but complete after the Kenton County Board of Education made two major steps towards completing the project this week.
Specifically, a construction bid and contract for the renovations’ second phase will be awarded to Monarch Construction (pending board attorney approval), and about $23 million in general obligation bonds will be issued to finance it.
The base bid from Monarch Construction is valued at roughly $18.7 million, the lowest of three bids the district received. The bonding issuance, on the other hand, allows the district to issue a base principal amount of $22,615,000 in general obligation bonds to finance the construction. The district can adjust downward as necessary, or it can choose to issue up to $2,261,500 of extra bonds in the future as circumstances dictate.
The board unanimously voted to pass both measures at their meeting Monday night.
General obligation bonds are one of several debt measures that taxing entities use to back capital projects. Superintendent Henry Webb said that this was only the second time the district has ever issued such bonding since the measures were legally established.
Here’s how they work:
The district solicits investors to buy bonds, in this case up to $22,615,000 worth, providing the district with cash to finance the building’s construction. The district is then entirely on the hook to pay back the principal of that debt plus any interest. The district will set up a repayment fund to accomplish this. Debt repayment schedules will be available once the sale of the bonds is complete.
The combined total cost of both phases of the project is $26,416,146, according to documents submitted to the board for Monday’s meeting. Designs for phase II of the project were approved in March, and the project cleared a public facility review from the county planning commission just last week. Preliminary plans for the second phase of construction were approved in December.
“This was about $5 million below what was estimated,” Webb said of the total cost.
The project continues another round of renovations that were initially approved in 2020 and started in 2021. It calls for the addition of parking spaces and coincides with a city of Edgewood-led realignment of the intersection at Dudley Road, Charter Oak Road, and Tupman Drive, which leads into the school. Once complete, the realignment will transform the currently uneven intersection into a true four-way.
Previous statements from district staff indicate the plan also calls for a new roof and a new geothermal HVAC system for R.C. Hinsdale, renovations of the small learning pods on the campus, new restrooms and other renovations to strengthen the school’s ability to provide specialized learning interventions. Finally, the construction will make the school’s entrance ADA-compliant. Documents submitted to the planning commission also show the addition of two new signs, one above the building’s main entrance and the other on the entryway of the property.
District Chief Operations Officer Matt Rigg confirmed with LINK nky that the district’s construction would commence later this month. In all, Rigg said, it would take “18 months for our project. The city anticipates they’ll be finished with their project by October” with about 90% of it completed by August when the kids return from summer vacation.
The R.C. Hinsdale project originated in the district’s desire to address a parking problem called stacking, in which cars back up along Dudley Road, creating safety hazards. The peculiar jog in the intersection also creates hazards for pedestrians.
Separate to this project, the board also approved designs for renovations at four other elementary schools in the district for a combined estimated cost of roughly $36.3 million. You can read about those projects here.