School officials release final project design

CELINA - School officials today released the final design of the PK-6 building rendered in animated videos on the building project website.

The PK-6 facility is the first phase of an overall $126.8 million school building project.

Two videos, the handiwork of project architect Garmann Miller, are provided, one a bird's-eye view that swoops down on and around the outside of the building and another that shows the inside layout and key features.

They can be watched at bulldogbuildingproject.com/progress/pk-6animation.

The feedback from board members and other officials has been positive so far, according to superintendent Ken Schmiesing. The videos pack a "wow factor" that should really open some eyes, he said.

"It's what we were dreaming that we could have and now it's becoming a reality for our students and staff," Schmiesing told the newspaper.

The building project is a joint venture of Celina City Schools, the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, Garmann Miller and Peterson Construction, the construction manager.

"Definitely the brunt of this work all falls on Garmann Miller," Schmiesing said of the newly released videos. "That's an aspect that they've been putting together for some of their projects here in the recent years that have been well received. So that was a piece as well that we thought should be a part of this project, let people see really what the building is going to look like pretty much a year and a half before it's slated to open for students and staff."

In the next month officials will receive construction bids for the first phase. The bid amounts will determine which locally funded initiatives can be added to the scope of work.

The first phase is a consolidated pre-K-sixth grade facility to be known as the new Celina Elementary School. Plans call for adding a new 115,000-square-foot addition onto the existing Celina Intermediate School at 227 Portland Street.

The addition itself will contain classrooms for grades PK-3 and will go up west of the intermediate school, while the 81,000-square-foot intermediate school will be renovated and reprogramed to serve grades 4-6, school documents show.

The site and building construction are on track to be finished in time for the start of the 2024-2025 school year, according to district facilities director Phil Metz.

The design of the future Celina Middle School/High School is expected shortly. The new 7-12 grade building will be located on the existing Celina Primary School and Celina High School campus. Construction is slated to start in summer 2024 and is anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2026, according to school documents.

"Build first the pre-K-four addition onto the 5-6. You have that nice grass area there," Schmiesing had said last year about the timeline. "(Next), take down the primary building and then you have an area to build the new 7-12 building and then you can do the demolition of the middle school and the high school."

District voters in May 2021 narrowly approved a roughly $75.9 million bond issue and a 0.5-mill levy to build a middle/high school and renovate the intermediate school with an addition that will house preschool-sixth grades. The total project is estimated at $126.8 million. Bonds issued to raise the district's share of the project were issued with net interest just under 2.8% and will be paid back over 37 years.

The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission signed off on the release of $51 million in state funds for the project.