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Officials: Best for Saxe Students, Timing and Costs to Start Building Project Next Summer
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To save money, minimize disruption to students and help construction crews get through the noisiest, dirtiest work more quickly, New Canaan should line up the proposed renovations and additions at Saxe Middle School for a June 2016 start, according to those closest to the estimated $17.1 million project. Town officials are expected in September to decide whether to approve a committee’s recommendation—backed by the Board of Education in May— to renovate the Saxe auditorium, expand performing arts classroom spaces and build a 2-story, 12-classroom addition on the northwest corner of the school. According to Jim LaPosta Jr., principal at JCJ Architecture—a firm that’s being retained as the project’s architect—getting a shovel into the ground next June is important “because then it gives you two full summers” to finish the job. “I’ve been doing this a long time and one thing I know about school construction is summers are pretty precious, because when nobody is on the site the contractors can fully work,” LaPosta said Wednesday during an update on the project (the full presentation can be found here) before the Town Council, held in the Community Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “They don’t have to worry about students, don’t have to worry about construction.