Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Board Studies Plans For New PHS Gym

Plans for Prescott High School's new gymnasium are getting closer to becoming a reality.

In a special meeting of the Prescott School Board, held Tuesday, March 7, David French, head of French Architects, the company designing the gym, architect Rico Harris, and contractor Wade Abernathy, talked about the progress made with the plans to date.

Harris, who has done most of the preliminary drawing, first showed the board where and how the new gym would be located on the PHS campus.

Plans for the gym's front call for a plaza where students can gather during their free time. This, Harris said, is similar to the plaza design already in place at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

The streets, he said, drove the gym's placement on the campus.

The facility will have two levels, with combination theater and bench seating. The theater seats will be on the first level on the home side, while the bench seating will be used for the rest of the gym.

The concession area, he continued, will have kitchen equipment for keeping lunches warm as it will be used as a cafeteria during the day at school, along with vending machines.

On the second level of the gym will be a walking track and area where fans can look down at the game in progress. This is similar to what Centerpoint and Vilonia have.

According to Harris, there won't be a bad seat in the house, though there will be a few close to high traffic areas.

Seating will either be wood or molded plastic, he told the board, but this is something the district will have to decide down the line.

The design concept, Harris said, was to have a good flow when fans entered the gym and left to visit the concession stand or restrooms.

The restrooms, he said, were planned along the lines of airport restrooms. Again, this was done so the facilities could be used with a minimum of interference.

This particular set of plans calls for 1,536 seats. This would be large enough for Prescott to be able to host regional and state tournaments, should the district so desire and win the bid on them.

This gym will also have two classrooms which will be accessible from the inside of the structure as well as outside. They can be used for whatever the district needs, Harris said.

However, French said, this design may be too large for the money the district has to work with. "We may have to squeeze it down," he told the panel, "so we can get in what you want in it."

At this time, Harris said, a cost analysis hasn't been done. First, the firm wanted to get the plans finished and then see what it would run to build the gym.

French told the board the current floor plans are for a 39,000 to 40,000 square foot building, but this may have to be cut back by as much as 3,000 square feet.

"This is a more complex structural system then a normal building," he said.

Before the first spade of dirt is turned, soil samples will have to be taken to see what will be needed to insure the building's stability.

Plans also call for windows above the second level. These windows could pose problems during practice and early games as the gym has an east-west lie.

Harris said a covering could be used over the windows to keep the sun out, but the idea was to keep the gym from looking like a dungeon.

Prescott Superintendent Ron Wright, he added, wants the building to be versatile, and not just for basketball.

To save space, French said, some of the storage space could be cut from the plans. But, before any cuts are made, the architects will see exactly how big the gym is.

The area in the rear section of the gym has been designed for use by the football team, but this, French said, takes up a lot of space.

Abernathy, who is an architect as well as a contractor, talked with the board on the benefits of having a construction manager who would handle all the details of the job and insure the building was built right.

A construction manager, he said, has the same goals in mind as the district. The manager would estimate the budget and work to make sure the contractors stay in it, while getting the job done in a timely manner.

The plans can be used to generate preliminary building costs, he said, but until these figures are hammered out, no one will have any idea of a final price tag.

He told the board there are two types of construction manager. One works as an advisor for the district, while the school is responsible for making sure all the bills are paid, and deals with the details of the job.

The second type, he said, acts as a general contractor who hires the subcontractors and is a go-between for the district with them.

This type of manager, he continued, deals with the day-to-day business of construction and makes sure the bills are paid and the job is done right.

Abernathy said the second type of manager is also financially responsible and has a performance bond to protect the district if something goes wrong.

The district would buy the bond for the contractor. Then, he said, if something happened with the subcontractors he would step in and make sure school was protected.

The Abernathy firm has been in business for 35 years, he said, and was initially started by his father.

His father sent Abernathy to college to become an architect, then brought him into the fold where he has been the last 14 years.

Should the district decide to hire a construction manager, a percentage of the overall cost would be figured in for the manager's salary.

Abernathy said this would be 1 percent in the preconstruction phase and 9 percent for the construction portion. But, out of this 9 percent the manager would be responsible for all expenses, including office setup and supplies, office salaries, the job trailer and paying the phone bills.

Normally, he said, as an incentive to get the job in on time and under budget, another 1 percent is added in as a bonus to be paid when the job is done.

The board will look into the prospect of using a construction manager and decide at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, March 21.

Bids will not have to be taken to select a manager if the board decides to go this way, because, as Wright said, this is hiring a professional service.

French echoed this, saying a service will be provided with no product offered by the manager.

"We want, when this is built," he said, "people to talk about it and come and see the Prescott gym because it works so well.'

Abernathy told the board when the gym is built Prescott will be "top dogs" for a while as having the nicest gym around.

One of the added benefits of having a construction manager, Abernathy said, is some work can begin before the plans are fully complete. This gives the builders a leg up on making deadline.

When work starts on the gym, it will take the better part of a full year to complete.

Wright said this year's sophomores will be able to play in it their senior year most likely.