Public Building Commission Board Approves Contractor and Architects for New Schools

The Board of Commissioners of the Public Building Commission today awarded a contract for the construction of an elementary school annex on the Northwest Side and appointed the architects of record for two new elementary schools, one each on the Southwest and Southeast sides of Chicago.

The board approved the contract with IHC Construction Corp. for an amount of $11.8 million for the Oriole Park Elementary School Annex and renovation project, 5424 N. Oketo Avenue in the Norwood Park community.

The board also approved the appointment of STR Partners, LLC as the Architect of Record for the new Southwest Area Elementary School to be located at 60th Street and South Karlov Avenue in the West Lawn community, and the appointment of Schroeder, Murchie Niemiec Gazda-Ausklanis (SMNG-A) as the Architect of Record for the new Southeast Area Elementary School to be located at 3960 East 105th Street in the East Side community.

“The approval of the general contractor for Oriole Park Elementary moves the project one step closer to construction while the appointment of architects paves the way for the design of two new elementary schools,” said Erin Lavin Cabonargi, Executive Director of the Public Building Commission. “These are exciting and important projects for these communities and they will benefit school children in many ways.”

The PBC is building the annex and new schools on behalf of Chicago Public Schools. The Oriole Park annex project includes a new two-story building with new classrooms and other amenities and the removal of modular units at the school plus the renovations at the existing school. The project also calls for a new artificial turf play field, a new playground serving two age groups and signage and crosswalks installed at Balmoral to enhance the safety of students. Construction is expected to begin later this summer and be completed in fall 2015

The two new elementary school projects will bring new schools to the East Side and West Lawn communities. The projects are still in the planning and design phases and are being built to ease overcrowding. The new schools will feature new classrooms and other amenities and are scheduled to open in time for the 2016-17 school year.