Karns City school board approves Sugarcreek demolition bid
KARNS CITY — Karns City Area School District has approved the razing of the historic Sugarcreek Elementary School building.
The school board approved acceptance of a bid from Ritenour & Sons Construction for demolition of the former Sugarcreek Elementary School on Monday, Jan. 12, at its board meeting.
The demolition will cost $243,000.
The district unsealed six bids on Tuesday at Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School for the abatement and demolition of the former elementary school.
The building, located in Armstrong County, closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year. It was replaced by Karns City Area Elementary School. Since then, district officials have discussed what to do with the property. Demolishing the building was first considered last March.
Bids received by the district ranged in total cost by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ritenour & Sons Construction, based out of Connellsville, Fayette County, had a base bid of $243,000. The highest bid was from Demex LLC, of Butler, with a base bid of $788,297. Other bidding contractors included GEM, Hiles Excavating, Minniefield Demolition Services and Siegel Excavating, LLC.
Josh Price, school board president, said the board was pleasantly surprised when bids for the demolition came back.
John Pappas, district construction manager, said he felt the numbers the district received were overall competitive.
“There was certainly what we typically see in demo and abatement projects, a pretty wide span of numbers,” Pappas said. “We do typically see that and we’re not alarmed by that.”
For reference, Karns City’s 2025-26 budget is roughly $26 million.
The building demolition is one of several projects the district indicated it is moving forward with.
The high school roofing project is wrapping up and contractors will spend a couple hours installing skylights on Tuesday, Jan. 13, Pappas said.
Pappas noted work on the stadium just started Monday morning and workers are in the process of taking out old turf that will be replaced. Electrical work will also start soon.
District administration will also be meeting with Hayes Design Group, an architecture firm it appointed for a future high school renovation project, in coming weeks.
Evan McGarvey, district director of business affairs, said Karns City is in the process of applying for a capital improvements grant for school facilities that will provide around $598,000 toward the high school roof project.
