This courtyard at the Bridgeport Exempted Village Schools complex is being converted to a science and exercise facility to be used by the entire student body.

BRIDGEPORT — Work on the nearly half-a-million dollar Exercise and Science facility inside Bridgeport High School is progressing nicely, according to Gus Kayafas of Kayafas Architects in Wheeling.

Kayafas recently updated members of the Bridgeport Exempted Village School District’s Board of Education, as well as Superintendent Zac Shutler and Treasurer Dana Garrison, on the project during a regular monthly board meeting last week.

“Everything is on track to be completed by Sept. 1, as it was contracted,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of rain, as you know, and the site is very inaccessible because of its location in an interior courtyard. So, getting materials in and out has taken a lot of coordination, and I think the contractor is doing a great job keeping things moving.

“They have been setting structural steel this week,” Kayafas said of workers from K&K Home Builders of Bridgeport. “You can see the crane out there on the job site. In a week or two, they will be setting the roof structure and roof decking. The glass walls will follow and it will be totally enclosed at that point, which will accelerate the progress with with mechanical and electrical systems and finishes.

“It’s been great working with the school district here. They are doing their homework in selecting the finishes now. They’ve made some decisions on what type of flooring they want, and they are now doing their due diligence in selecting the exercise equipment,” Kayafas said. “Today they hired the director of the program. It’s all coming together and that’s good to see.”

The yet-to-be-named 2,000-square-foot structure came about when BHS alum Raymond Stewart gifted $400,000 to the district last summer.

Raymond Stewart

The valedictorian of the Class of 1954 and went on to become a very successful patent attorney.

Stewart, who was inducted into the Bridgeport Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 2011, received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Ohio State University in 1958 and his master’s degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. Eight years later he was awarded his law degree from Georgetown University, and his patent law career started that same year.

In 1971, Stewart founded his own law firm, together with Joe Kolasch, forming Stewart and Kolasch Ltd. In 1976, Birch, Stewart, Kolasch and Birch LLP was created. BSKB has grown over the years from a very small firm in Falls Church, Va., to the No. 3 patent firm in the country.

Stewart, 80, died April 26, 2016, at Inova Fairfax Hospital after battling Parkinson’s disease. The resident of The Virginian Retirement Community was predeceased by his wife, Marie Grace Stewart, in 2009.

Donation to School

“He thought so much of the Bridgeport school district, where he came from and where his education began. He wanted to give back to the district that he felt helped produce his success,” Shutler said of Stewart. “He wanted it to be used in some realm of science, and we are very grateful for that. His life’s work and the money he accrued to give back to the district is something that benefits generations and generations of kids from here on out.”

According to Shutler, the donation came with the stipulation that it had to be used for some type of science and had to be used in the high school.

“As a board and a district, we sat down and thought what could give the most students here the benefit in the most amount of years?” Shutler said. “We put all of that into the equation. What will benefit the most students for the longest time? We also looked to see what our district was missing to help kids.

“An exercise science center was something that we thought would benefit the most kids for the longest duration of time,” he continued. “We’re going to create essentially a living lab, where science teachers can go in there and do biometric experiments where we can use the Apple watches and just connect it to the iPad program to track fitness and movement … a variety a things.

“It will also be set up as a true lab and be used as a classroom to instruct with some light fitness equipment as well.”

Lead Architect Named

Kayafas Architects, of Wheeling, was approved by the board of education to draw up the plans for the facility at the July 9, 2017, board of education meeting.

It is a full-service firm willing to study client’s needs, assess goals, investigate facts, and produce creative solutions leading to nothing less than successful projects and satisfied clientele. Established in 1993, Kayafas Architects has been serving clients in Ohio and West Virginia with professional architectural and planning services.

Kayafas Architects incorporates a Team Project Approach and utilizes outside consultants for mechanical and electrical engineering to address each building component as required. Each team member is selected based upon their background and experience in the design of similar facilities, as well as their ability to use in-house CADD computer systems. Importantly, the existing workload of each team member is also assessed.

The team shares a mutual commitment to provide quality services, realistic scheduling, and budgetary constraints, which are the foundations of any successful project. To successfully complete many of these historic projects, the firm has utilized the services of various consultants who specialize in Mechanical, Electrical engineering as well as Landscape Architecture.

Plans Received by Board

“The plans were very-well received by the board,” Kayafas said. “We were authorized to proceed from the conceptual design phase into the construction documents phase. We’re working through some regulatory issues right now in regards to the flood plain and building codes, but we are doing our due diligence on them now.”

He said the construction documents should be finished and ready to be presented to the state in early August. He is hopeful that construction can start around the beginning of the school year.

“Certain aspects of the job will have to be done during hours when the school is closed,” he added. “There are some certain aspects that can be done during school hours and we’ve had some discussions with large contractors that are capable of staffing their crews to accommodate those work conditions and hours.”

The total cost of the project is something that has to be determined.

“We will be within our allotted funds,” Kayafas said.

Variance Granted

In a letter to the board on Sept. 25, 2017, Kayafas said the flood variance appeals board unanimously approved the request to be exempt from the 24-inch freeboard requirement.

“We will therefore be permitted to construct the fitness and science center as the existing finish floor elevation at the school, which is at 12-inch freeboard. This approach will simplify and reduce costs of the project and make for a more practical use of space without ramps.”

That also pleased Shutler.

“Our case that we presented was the courtyards are built within the school and that it would be an undo hardship to raise them as far as increasing the overall square footage of the facility, and also the increased cost incurred by building a ramp and building it up.

“The panel listened to our concerns, and Mr. Kayafas articulated those concerns very well and we were granted the variance.”

Construction Delayed

During its Oct. 22, 2017, meeting of the board of education, the panel heard from Kayafas cited several reasons as to why the delay was necessary.

Kayafas said additional construction costs during the winter months and less interference with the school day were the two top reasons.

“Due to the delay in acquiring the flood plain appeal, our schedule along with our consultants created a bottleneck with other projects that had to be completed first.

“The option to start construction in the spring of 2018 is very appealing,” he added. “Bidding could occur in late January, with bids due in February and construction commencing April 1.”

The board unanimously OK’d Kayafas’s proposal.

“We just ran into a situation where the variance granted by the Belmont County Flood Appeals Board took a little time and we don’t rush the project. We know the project will turn out to be a fantastic addition to the school. It will benefit students and staff for generations to come.

“Knowing that, we thought it was better to be prudent with the project and make sure we do it right and make sure we talk to all the stakeholders.

“We all know that good things take time and this is one of those projects that is going to take a little more time than we had planned, but the lasting benefit will make us forget about how long it took. We’ll just remember how good it is for the school.”

Moving Forward

The board of education voted favorably to approve the construction plans at its Feb., 21, 2018, meeting.

Kayafas presented the panel and Shutler with the plans and detailed what the board could expect over the next few months concerning the construction of the nearly half-million- dollar facility, which will be built in the courtyard adjacent to the cafetorium.

“We’ve been working with Gus for more than a calendar year on this project, so we’ve been very meticulous, the committee has done its true diligence, and the board of education has been very supportive of the project,” Shutler said. “So, we believe this is going to be a great opportunity for our students and staff.

Garrison told the board the account currently has $455,348.29 in it.

Construction Begins in May

The project is expected to be completed prior to the start of the 2018-19 school year.

The Bridgeport Board of Education unanimously approved awarding the bid to K&K Home Builders of Bridgeport in the amount of $414,750 during its monthly meeting in April.

“We’re happy. We had the bids come through, and we had a bid fit within what we expected the budget to be,” Shutler said. “We’re just very thankful for Raymond Stewart and his love of science. This exercise science lab is going to be a major asset to the district. It’s going to be part of a career pathway for students interested in medicine, nursing, exercise physiology, athletic training. … This is a program that you are going to get to learn about the human body and how it functions.

“It’s going to really be something that benefits the students for generations to come,” Shutler added. “The fact that we should be able to get it funded through the Career Pathway it should be able to sustain itself for many generations.”

Weather permitting, work was expected to begin mid-May with demolition of concrete in the courtyard. Demolition continued and the footers dug and poured the week of May 28. Wells and piers were poured and a new electrical pad installed the week of June 4. The floor was poured and graded and the floor outlets were roughed in during the week of June 11. The week of June 18 saw see steel beams set and work on the roof starting, which is expected to take two weeks. Framing of the roof walls and installation of the glass walls will also take two weeks.

Work to finish the roof and cap the wall, as well as framing of metal studs will start this week. The electric will be roughed in four days later, with the HVAC unit and duct work being done the week of July 12. Drywall will be painted and the ceilings and interior doors hung the week of July 23.

Lights will be hung and the electrical trimmed out on Aug. 1, while exterior grading the walls being completed five days later. A punch-out list will be completed the week of Aug. 13, with cleanup slated for the next week.