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An architecht's rendering of the new Chartiers Valley Middle School now under construction.
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Building Boom: Towns, school districts spending millions on new or improved facilities

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Building Boom: Towns, school districts spending millions on new or improved facilities

Around the suburbs, numerous municipalities and school districts are planning, building or have recently completed large-scale construction and renovation projects, issuing bonds or tapping reserve funds to address pressing needs.

In general, the activity is being driven largely by aging infrastructure, not growth, said Orlie Prince, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service. Its credit rating agency rates the financial condition of a number of municipalities and school districts throughout Allegheny County.

Over the past couple of years, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported on a flurry of capital projects big and small that have been completed or are underway, being planned or under consideration.

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Some municipalities and school districts are paying for the projects out of their own pockets, tapping cash reserves.

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Others are borrowing money amid lower interest rates, which have proved “favorable” for issuing bonds or refinancing debt, said Charlie Goodwin, managing director and head of public finance for the Bank of New York Mellon. The global corporation serves as the county’s financial adviser.

In Brentwood, officials are considering replacing the nearly century-old borough building with a two-story structure that would contain about 14,000 square feet. It would cost about $5 million, which would come from a general obligation bond, borough manager George Zboyovsky said.

While the existing borough building is much larger, containing more than 35,000 square feet, it once housed a library as well as a number of other services but now is home only to the police department and the borough’s emergency medical services and administrative offices.

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More pressing, however, is the condition of the building.

It is “literally falling down around us,” Mr. Zboyovsky said, citing “safety issues for employees and those who visit the borough.” Construction of the new building could begin next year, he added, if council approves.

Dormont is looking into a proposed parking garage that would contain about 320 spaces and six levels, with a couple of green roofs, preliminary drawings show. It could cost a total of $15 million, for which the borough would probably issue a bond, borough manager Benjamin Estell said, citing an initial estimate.

The project has become a focal point in the borough, where parking is “severely limited,” he said. Noting that the borough is without a parking garage, he added that building one would not only ease parking congestion but also could eventually help spur economic development.

The last time Dormont carried out a major construction project was more than 15 years ago, when it remade an elementary school into its borough building, Mr. Estell said.

In the Mon Valley borough of Glassport, construction of a new police station is underway, replacing a more than century-old one that had fallen into poor condition and whose cramped layout had become problematic. The new single-story building contains about 2,100 square feet and costs nearly $645,000, which will come partly from a borough contingency fund.

Coraopolis is building a new municipal headquarters on Fourth Avenue. The 13,000-square-foot building will cost about $3 million.

Construction and renovation projects are also taking place or being planned at several school districts in and around Allegheny County.

Besides issuing bonds or turning to cash reserves, some districts are seeking financial assistance under the state education department’s Planning and Construction Workbook, or PlanCon, a fund that helps offset costs for school construction.

The Chartiers Valley school board in October approved a $17.7 million bond issue for the final financing of its ongoing $92.4 million project to build a new middle school and renovate the high school. The board took the action because it feared the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates, which it eventually did in December.

In the North Allegheny School District, plans are underway to renovate a more than 60-year-old high school.

Built in 1954, the intermediate high school is the second-oldest building in the district and has not seen significant renovations since 1997, superintendent Robert Scherrer said. The renovation will involve replacing its heating and cooling system as well as windows and doors.

The district has set aside $6.6 million for the project as part of its capital funding plan. The money will come from a recent bond issue of $34.7 million, which will go toward a number of other capital projects.

The school board is expected to award contracts for the project this month. Construction, which will not affect the learning environment, is scheduled to begin in the spring and finish in the summer.

The district has made it a point to renovate each building every 20 to 25 years, when Mr. Scherrer said mechanical systems usually need attention. Over the past two years, it has renovated two elementary schools, a middle school and the stadium at its senior high school. Much of the money for those projects came from the recent bond issue.

The North Hills School District is moving forward with a plan to expand an elementary school, anticipating a relatively small but steady increase in enrollment in coming years.

The school, McIntyre Elementary, has already undergone a renovation over the past decade. But with nearly 600 students, it is reaching classroom capacity in grades 2, 3 and 4.

The expansion would add a wing of eight new classrooms and cost roughly $2.3 million, which would come from a district fund for capital projects.

Throughout the district, elementary enrollment is expected to increase by a little more than 100 students in coming years, superintendent Patrick Mannarino said in a presentation in the fall. He cited a high real estate turnover rate in Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs, noting that of the 190-some homes up for sale in the district, more than 80 are in the McIntyre enrollment area.

In Washington County, Peters and its school district are planning to remake an old golf course after spending millions of dollars each to acquire it late last year.

Stretching over 190 acres, the former Rolling Hills Country Club cost a total of a little more than $11 million. The district paid its share with money from its capital fund budget, and it also applied for reimbursement under the PlanCon program, said Shelly Belcher, communications coordinator for the district.

The school district plans to build facilities on its part of the property, though it has yet to set a timeline for construction. At the same time, it is putting together a long-term plan for all of its buildings, conducting a feasibility study over the past several months to determine how much it would cost to renovate its high school.

Shaler Area School District this school year renovated its football stadium and track. But it was also forced to take on a bigger project.

It is building a new school to replace Rogers Elementary, which was extensively damaged in a fire in April 2015. The school board chose new construction for an estimated $23 million over a $15 million repair plan.

Jake Flannick, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

First Published: January 13, 2017, 5:00 a.m.

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An architecht's rendering of the new Chartiers Valley Middle School now under construction.  (IKM Inc.)
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