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HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — Renovations may be starting again at a Westmoreland County high school.
Hempfield Regional High School is looking for a new architect after the previous architect resigned.
Core Architects was hired about two years ago. Now they’ve reportedly secured $2.4 million and exited the project. One former board member and taxpayers worry the project could quickly become expensive.
The Hempfield School Board is working with Core Architects on the project to renovate a portion of its aging school. Last week, the company resigned. The board accepted the proposal last Monday.
“The company has resigned and we seem to be back to square one,” said former school board member Tony Bompiani.
Bompiani, a Hempfield University graduate and taxpayer, was part of the team that hired the former architect. He now worries that program budgets will continue to swell. According to him, the board will now have to hire a new company to see if the old company will allow them to use any drawings and see if the new company will come on board at a similar cost.
“We picked the worst possible time to try to build a building, but our high school was in dire need of renovations. We started before COVID-19, so we couldn’t have predicted this,” he said by phone.
Guess so The renovation cost is approximately US$150 million. Initially, Bompiani told KDKA-TV they were hoping for something closer to $135 million. He doesn’t want to see taxes increase because of overspending.
“There are only a few paths they can take, but no matter which path they take, taxpayers are going to have to pay more,” Bompiani told KDKA-TV.
He said the scope of the project can also be daunting. With the cost of everything increasing, the project needs to be re-evaluated because prices will increase, according to former board members. They may get less in return.
“If they try to build the same building, they’re going to spend less,” Bompiani said.
KDKA-TV reached out to school administrators, the school board and the core architect but never heard back.
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