Lenoir County board approves E.B. Frank Middle School construction GMP, subject to final review

The Lenoir County Board of Education approved moving forward with construction at E.B. Frank Middle School on June 2, voting to accept a construction manager’s guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and allow site work to begin subject to final review by the district’s outside reviewer. Board members amended the agenda and then approved the GMP recommendation so contracts can be issued and “start moving dirt” as soon as necessary paperwork is complete.

District and construction officials told the board the project is under budget and included higher-than-typical owner allowances and contingencies. Mike Konishka, vice president of Metcon, the construction manager, told the board: “We are under budget and you are gonna have a tremendous facility.” He said the construction contract portion of the GMP is roughly $49.0 million and that the project funding is expected to be drawn from a $52.0 million grant with a 5% local match, producing a project total near $54.6 million as presented to the board.

Why it matters: approving a GMP lets the district award subcontractor work and begin site preparation, which the construction team said would let the project meet a key milestone: substantial completion of the building shell and turnover of the keys by Dec. 23, 2025, enabling move‑in and a February start for classes if logistics proceed as planned. The board heard one significant trade‑off: specifying terrazzo flooring in public spaces would lengthen the schedule by about two months and could push school opening into March or April unless the district pays to accelerate work.

Details presented to the board included the contractor’s bidding approach, which Metcon said involved 37 bid packages, multiple bidders per package and several rounds of scope review that produced savings. Metcon also recommended enhancements such as heavy‑duty paving for bus areas and an owner‑added scope allowance of about $1.8 million that the district could allocate to add fields or other features. Konishka said the team increased owner allowances (noted as ~10% for some line items) and kept soft costs relatively small to preserve funding for construction scope. The project team also described using a nearby borrow pit to save roughly $500,000 on earthwork and noted a conditional acceptance from DOT on permitting.

Board discussion focused on schedule risk from the terrazzo option and whether accelerating that work would be cost‑effective. Konishka told the board that compressing the terrazzo schedule would be possible but would add cost and that district contingencies were unusually healthy compared with typical K‑12 projects. The motion to approve the GMP was passed with the condition that Harrington Smith complete final review and recommend execution; the board directed staff to finalize the contract once that review is complete.

Next steps: the agreement will be finalized subject to Harrington Smith’s review and the district will issue notices to subcontractors and begin permitted site work once insurance and other prerequisites are met.