Warren Township approves bid process for O'Plaine locker-room addition; board to consider alternates at special meeting

Warren Township High School District 121 officials presented detailed designs and a bidding timeline on June 10 for a planned locker-room addition at the O'Plaine Campus, telling the board the base project will add athletics and PE locker rooms, staff spaces and an elevator and that several optional items will be priced as alternates.

The presentation matters because the project — described by the district architect as roughly a 23,000-square-foot addition — would relocate a boys pool locker room that currently floods in a basement area, add accessibility between the gym and field house, and create new training and staff spaces adjacent to athletic facilities.

"It's a roughly 23,000-square-foot locker room addition that is added to the south end of the O'Plaine campus," said Shannon Baird, architect with DLA, during the board meeting. Baird walked the board through exterior renderings, a new vestibule to the field house, and interior views showing team and PE locker rooms configured as mirror images with coach offices and dedicated circulation to the football field.

Board members and project staff discussed construction alternates that would be bid with the base work so the district can decide later whether to accept them. District staff listed alternates that include replacing the rubber tile corridor adjacent to the weight room, renovating the boys pool locker room (to move it out of a flood-prone basement), addressing certain front-door replacements, potential lighting upgrades in the south parking lot, a backlit “W” sign on the south elevation, and the previously planned gym roof replacement. Project staff said work tied to the south parking lot will likely be bid later because civil engineering and traffic improvements are still under review.

Chad Alexander, vice president at LAMP Incorporated, the district's construction manager, and district staff said the bid release had already been issued and that bidders must keep prices open for an extended period. "The bids are actually due on the 24th of June," a district staff member told the board; the district said it expects to present bid results and alternate pricing for board action after bids are opened.

District staff asked the board to hold a special meeting in mid-July so members can review numbers and select alternates immediately; staff said earlier decisions let contractors order materials and help the project stay on the intended schedule. "We're hoping that we can have at least four board members that are available on July 15 to have a special meeting just to approve or not approve or make selections around the bid," a district staff member said. Staff also noted contractors are being asked to hold prices for 60 to 90 days, allowing the board some flexibility if it needs additional time.

Project details presented to the board included an elevator to connect the field house and gym, relocation of boys pool locker rooms from a flood-prone basement to a renovated space adjacent to the pool, and a plan that partially reclaims tennis courts for the addition while retaining some green space. Staff said the existing flooded basement locker room would likely be repurposed for storage, placed on pallets to mitigate damp conditions.

Board members asked about drainage and flood-plain constraints; architects and the construction manager said the field house sits in a flood plain and while grading and drainage improvements will be made where feasible, the flood-plain location limits what the project can fully resolve. Staff also described the reasoning for grouping several alternates with the base bid: where trades are already mobilized, adding scope can reduce duplication of mobilization costs and may be more economical than doing the same work in a later season.

No contract awards were made at the June 10 meeting. The board did not vote on the alternates; district staff said the base bid and alternates will be brought back for formal award after bids are opened. Implementation planning lists Buildings & Grounds and the district’s construction manager as lead implementers, with follow-up tasks including issuing final contract awards and scheduling on-site preconstruction activities.

The district identified the project in its 10-year facility plan and said some elements — notably the south parking lot civil work — will be advanced in a later bid release once civil-engineering recommendations are complete. Bidders will be asked for separate pricing on each alternate so the board can accept some, all or none of the optional work at award time.

Board President and staff invited board members to preview bid documents and meet with project staff the week before any special meeting. The district said it will return with detailed cost tallies after the June 24 bid opening and expects the board to make final selections at a scheduled special meeting or at a subsequent regular meeting if members prefer more time.

If the board opts to move forward, the work would require contractor mobilization, material procurement and coordination with campus activities; staff said timing and final award decisions will drive the project's start date.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this article are those who participated in the presentation or Q&A at the June 10 meeting of the Warren Township High School District 121 Board of Education. The board did not approve construction contracts at the meeting; it approved a process for receiving bids and will consider awards after staff presents bid results.