Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Capital Projects topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Southeast Technical College board approves $17.85 million contract for James Abner Center
Summary
The Southeast Technical College board approved a $17,854,770 contract with Gil Haugen Construction to build the James Abner Center for Advanced Manufacturing and renovate the welding lab; groundbreaking is targeted for Aug. 14 with a two-year construction timeline and an estimated fall 2028 opening.
The Southeast Technical College board voted to award Gil Haugen Construction a $17,854,770 contract to build the new James Abner Center for Advanced Manufacturing and renovate the existing welding lab.
Corey, speaking for the board's administration, said the project will add about 34,000 square feet of flexible lab and classroom space and create two advanced manufacturing training tracks: advanced manufacturing maintenance technician and advanced manufacturing automation technician. "If everything gets approved today, we will do groundbreaking here on August 14, and they will plan to start moving dirt yet this fall," Corey said.
The low bid was selected from a pool of 10 bidders. The Abner Center portion was $16,327,000 and the welding-lab addition and renovation totaled $1,527,770. Corey noted the combined bid was roughly $4 million under the project's original estimate and described the price as reasonable given the competitive field.
Board members praised the local contract award and the project’s workforce benefits. President Kelly highlighted the local economic impact of awarding work to a long-standing community contractor and said the new facility will increase the number of students the college can train for regional jobs.
Construction is planned to take about two years; the administration hopes the building will open in fall 2028. The board passed the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the public transcript.
The administration also described future phase-2 plans to renovate Ed Wood to expand electrician, HVAC and plumbing instruction, and said fundraising for that later phase will begin after the Abner Center work is underway. Staff encouraged potential donors to contact the South State Technical Foundation.
What’s next: With the contract approved, the college will finalize schedules with the contractor, proceed toward a planned Aug. 14 groundbreaking, and continue fundraising for phase 2 renovations.
