School District Selects Builder Of New Hillview

Menlo Park City School District unanimously selected Overaa Construction to rebuild the Hillview Middle School at its school board meeting yesterday.

The two parties have agreed to sign a lease-leaseback agreement, in which the district will lease the school property to the construction company, which will build the new campus and then lease the school back to the district.

Ahamad Sheikholeslami, the district's director of facility planning and construction, said the agreement is done in two phases. The first, worth $1.337 million, will allow Overaa Construction to begin preliminary work on the campus as soon as possible, as well as plan and gain approval for the second phase.

The second phase, worth $30.75, will feature most of the heavy construction relating to building the campus. This phase is an independent contract from the first, which Overaa has not been awarded yet.

Should Overaa be selected by the district to do the second phase, the value of the first contract would be subtracted from the value of the second, said Sheikholeslami.

He said the district elected to enter into a lease-leaseback agreement because administrators felt it would result in a more timely completion of construction. 

"The key issue for the district was completing the project on schedule and this method would best guarantee that goal," Sheikholeslami said.

The two phases are deemed more efficient because building construction plans can go out for approval while preliminary works begin, said Sheikholeslami.

He said Overaa's bid was selected from a pool of 5o selected applicants.

The Richmond, Calif. based firm has completed construction projects on the UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University campuses, as well as built at the Lawrence Livermore Labs and done retrofitting at San Quentin State Prison, according to its website.

"We're thrilled to be selected," said

, the project manager who represented Overaa at the board meeting yesterday. "And we're ready to build a new school now."

will undergo a complete reconstruction of its current campus to make room for an expected enrollment increase over the next decade.

The reconstructed campus will feature new classrooms, as well as library, administration, performing arts buildings.  The existing school will be demolished and a new synthetic field and running track will be built in its location.

The school district plans to build which administrators hope will make the campus energy cost neutral.

Hillview's construction will be funded by the $91.1 million facility bond passed in 2006. Sheikholeslamie said he expects light construction to begin on phase one of the project early next week.

Both phases of the contract span for nearly 2 years, as the school is expected to open the fall semester of 2012, said Sheikholeslamie.  Smith said his company has completed the construction of nearly 70 other schools, and none have had to open late due to construction delays.

"We have never failed to be ready when it's time for students to show up," said Smith. "

He said factors such as extended periods of incliment weather can temporarily delay the construction process, at which point he it becomes necessary to bring more builders on site to ensure the project is finished on time.

"It's going to be hard, but we'll be ready," he said.

School board member Joan Lambert asked at the meeting what could happen to the school should the district default on payments. Phillip Henderson, the district's attorney, said Overaa would then have the right to re-lease the property to another interested party. However, he said such a scenario is unlikely.

"Could it happen? Sure," he said. "But it never has."

Smith said his company has entered into similar contract agreements with other school districts which has resulted successfully.

"We've had so many good experiences with this form of contract," Smith said.