Thanks to project savings during the construction of Davenport High School, Comal ISD’s newest school that opened last fall, additional facilities have been added to the campus years ahead of schedule.
The 2017 bond project, with a bid construction cost of $93.1 million, was expected to take 48 months to complete. However, it was finished 12 months ahead of schedule while $1.7 million in savings was realized due to lower-than-expected costs for materials and labor.
These savings, coupled with additional monies realized through reduced design and project contingency costs, allowed for an agricultural barn, a pool and locker room, and a cross country trail to be built and completed earlier than expected. These facilities are already being used today by Davenport students.
“In a fast-growth district like Comal ISD, facilities like these create a world of opportunity for our students,” says Andrew Kim, Comal ISD superintendent. “As our community grows along with the need for additional schools to accommodate growing student enrollment, we will continue to exhaust every opportunity we have to make the most of taxpayer dollars.”
Davenport is a 300,000-square foot, open-concept school designed for greater student collaboration. The school opened this year with three grade levels (freshmen, sophomores and juniors). Next year, all four grade levels will be included. Additional phases of the master-planned campus, which will be supported by the approval of future bonds, include a new classroom wing and a field house.
In May 2017, voters approved a bond package worth $263.5 million which included the construction of two new high schools (Davenport and Pieper), additional school buses, maintenance to existing facilities, the design for future elementary schools, and the design for a future school-of-choice high school.
The Davenport project was led by Bartlett Cocke General Contractors, Huckabee Architects and Comal ISD.