BET approves $6.28 million interim appropriation for Old Greenwich School after building committee backs larger contingency

The Board of Estimate and Taxation on Thursday voted to approve BOE5, an interim appropriation of $6,277,940 to move the Old Greenwich School renovation toward signing a guaranteed maximum price (GMP).

James Waters, chair of the Old Greenwich Building Committee, told the BET that qualified bids returned in the recent procurement leave the project about $6.3 million short of the GMP the construction manager has presented. "We are approximately $6.3 million short of the funds that would be required to sign the guaranteed maximum price and to start construction," Waters said during the presentation.

The appropriation vote follows months of pre-construction work, a state pre-bid conformance review and a building-committee discussion in which members weighed whether to use limited funds to add scope alternates — notably a $450,000 roof replacement alternate and a roughly $164,500 cornice alternate — or to increase the owner contingency. The building committee voted in a morning meeting to endorse a 10% owner contingency and "would prioritize that over the roof and cornice alternates," Waters said.

Why it matters: BET members and the building committee emphasized that this is a phased, occupied renovation with a complex construction sequence designed to preserve school operations and student safety. Committee members said greater owner contingency can buffer schedule disruption, unknown subsurface conditions and other risks common in renovations of older buildings.

During the meeting Downs Construction (the construction manager) explained drivers behind higher-than-expected line items: market escalation, tariffs affecting mechanical/electrical/plumbing pricing, limited bidder participation in prior cycles and costs specific to phased occupied renovations. "Market conditions ... escalation over that year" and bidding dynamics were cited as primary reasons for the variance, Jeff Anderson of Downs said.

The presentation included project financial specifics shown to the BET: a GMP figure presented by the team (shown in the materials as 45,127,908), owner contingency options (baseline 7% and a recommended 10%), contractor-held contingency of 3% per contract, and soft-cost estimates (pre-construction roughly $1.84 million and construction-period soft costs roughly $3.1 million). The team also noted a modest pre-construction savings of about $250,000 relative to earlier briefings.

State reimbursement and hazardous soil: The team said the project cleared a state pre-bid conformance review; the town currently has state reimbursement approvals shown in the packet (presented as about $9.6 million) and staff said they are working with state representatives on possible additional reimbursement tied to pre-K programs. Separately, bidders priced allowances to manage polluted soil discovered in the addition footprint; the team said the material cannot be reused on site and will require off-site disposal.

Concerns and reassurances: Some BET members argued a larger owner contingency could be viewed as an available pot that contractors might try to access through change orders; Lawrence Rosati, the owner's representative from Morganti, reminded members that the construction manager and owner's rep vet change-order requests rigorously and the committee will not rubber-stamp increases. "We're here to thoroughly review any changes that come up ... and ensure it's valid," Rosati said.

What the BET approved: The committee restated the motion to provide the interim appropriation for the Old Greenwich renovation and recorded the vote as in favor; the transcript records the outcome as unanimous. The BET also removed the condition on a prior interim appropriation of $1,965,000 after confirming the presence of at least a 7% contingency as required by that earlier release.

Next steps: Project leaders said they plan to finalize building-permit items (notably fire marshal review) and to coordinate with the Board of Education and RTM for further authorization. Construction is planned to begin during the April school break, with a multi-phased schedule intended to limit disruption to the school program.

Ending: The BET's approval moves the town one step closer to executing the GMP, but the project team acknowledged a remaining funding gap; further Board of Education and RTM actions and potential additional state reimbursement will shape the final financing plan.