Spokane Public Schools has selected Garco Construction Inc. as general contractor and construction manager for the planned $59 million modernization of Shadle Park High School, on Spokanes North Side.


Mark Anderson, the districts associate superintendent of school support services, says the district is almost finished determining what educational facilities the renovated school must include, and design work will begin later this month. Garco will participate in the design stage along with district staff and Northwest Architectural Co., the Spokane firm thats designing the school improvements.


Fees for Garcos pre-construction services will be $2.1 million, Anderson says.


Design work will take more than 18 months to complete, and the modernization of the 48-year-old school will start in the fall of 2007. Renovation work is scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2009-2010 school year.


Anderson says the district used the general contractor-construction manager system for selecting a builder as part of a state pilot program. Through that process, a contractor is chosen based on qualification and price, rather than strictly by low bid.


Earlier this year, Spokane Public Schools used the same alternative method to select Garco as the general contractor-construction manager for the $54 million Rogers High School renovation and expansion project, which will get under way next spring. Voters approved funding for both projects in a $165.3 million bond in 2003.