Quincy school district awards district office remodeling contract

QUINCY — Construction is scheduled to begin April 3 on a project to remodel the old Quincy High Tech High building into the new Quincy School District office.

Quincy School Board members approved a contract with the construction firm of Leone & Keeble, Spokane, to remodel the building at the regular meeting Tuesday. The district will pay $687,000 for the work, not including sales tax, according to the contract.

The building, 404 First Ave. SW, became available after the district moved HTH, now called Quincy Innovation Academy, to a new location at 1804 13th Ave. SW. The QIA building is a former private school facility purchased by the district in 2020.

Tom Harris, the district’s facilities director, said Thursday the building would be remodeled into six offices and two meeting rooms, along with additional workstations.

Substantial completion is projected for Sept. 1, with final completion by Oct. 15. The building also will get new carpet and paint and an updated entrance. Board members hired NAC Architecture, Spokane as the project designer at an earlier meeting.

Furnishing the building is projected to cost an additional $147,000, according to a presentation Harris gave on district construction at the March 14 meeting. Lighting will cost an estimated $8,000.

Quincy superintendent Nik Bergman said in an earlier interview that the current QSD main office, a former church at 119 J St. SW, is too small for the existing district staff.

“We’re currently operating out of three buildings,” a sign that Quincy and its school district are growing, Bergman said.

The district has about $2.5 million in its construction fund, with about $2.2 million coming from the sale of 150 acres of district-owned property south of town in December 2022. Board members declared the existing district office and support services building as surplus property at the March 14 meeting, the first step to selling them.

Bergman said the ultimate goal is a new district office someday, but that remodeling the old HTH building will bridge the gap until the district can afford a new facility.

Remodeling HTH is one of a number of construction projects planned for the summer. Other projects include tree removal at Pioneer Elementary, concrete repairs at Quincy High School and upgrades to the air conditioning system at Mt. View Elementary.