KC high school renovation projected to cost around $50 million
KARNS CITY — Estimates presented at a Wednesday, May 20, special school board meeting show total costs for a renovation of Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School are projected near $50 million, though district officials did not indicate they were fully committed to these numbers.
Karns City Area School District’s board previously hired Hayes Design Group, a Pittsburgh-based architecture firm, to come up with designs for what a future high school renovation could look like. On Wednesday, the board was presented with two estimates on what the project in coming years could cost.
According to one estimate, the total costs of the high school project could be roughly $49.49 million. This includes roughly $39 million in renovations to the existing building.
The second estimate projects costs at about $50.55 million. This includes about $41.24 million in renovations to the existing building.
Additional spending in both estimates would go toward additions on the north side of the building, the gymnasium area and the garage area.
Work on the project would potentially occur through the summers of 2027 to 2029.
“The renovation column, in its total, is probably feasible, in my opinion,” superintendent Eric Ritzert said. “The other (costs), we’ll have to take a harder look at to see, what does that impact in three years, five years, it’s hard to look further but we’ll do our best to look at trends.”
The large-scale project will include updates around the property, such as new and improved classrooms and learning spaces, improved athletic facilities and significant heating and cooling improvements. The project is informed by a series of surveys taken by teachers, faculty, department chairs, athletics employees and other key stakeholders since February. The surveys gathered information on needs and also things they would like to see included in the project.
Hard costs included in the estimates largely entail general construction that will be bid out for contracts, like demolition, roofing, exterior work, ceiling repairs, floor repairs, HVAC construction, plumbing construction, electrical work, technology infrastructure and fire protection. Soft costs include bond payments, permits, inspection fees, construction contingency, furniture and classroom materials.
“There’s a lot of moving parts. We are going to have a combination of local monies from our capital reserve put toward this, as well as obviously bond borrowing. And over the course of a few years, we’re going to use some of our funds from local resources to offset some of these costs,” said Evan McGarvey, the district’s director of business affairs.
While the cost estimates were based off design proposals, district officials and school board members did not commit to those numbers Wednesday evening.
“This number is not where we will be. There will be some work to do,” McGarvey said. “Now it’s up to us to make some internal discussion, prioritize things, decide maybe what’s important, and maybe what’s not. We’ll have those conversations with HDG (Hayes Design Group) as well, so that we can find, maybe a more realistic number for us, and we’ll keep progressing from there.”
McGarvey said he has preliminary estimates for bond borrowing and is looking at different terms and amounts. He said borrowing for the project does not necessarily need to happen in one bond issue and could be spread over the course of the project.
For reference, Karns City Area School District expects a roughly $27 million budget for the 2026-27 school year. The district’s millage rate is currently 105.64 mills for Butler County residents, 39.30 for Armstrong County and 40.14 in Clairton County.
For now, district officials will pay attention to what they see as a “fluid bond market,” interest rates and other trends as they consider how much money to borrow.
“I think Evan (McGarvey) and I are probably fiscally conservative toward what we want to take on. That said, we don’t want to harm the educational programs. So there is a balance,” Ritzert said. “But by agreeing to take on any additional debt, which we will need to, to do a renovation at minimum … because this building needs to be addressed, we need to also be looking at appropriate staffing, appropriately rightsizing.”
