Construction on a new $97.5M elementary school in Amherst, Mass., to be completed by Fall 2026, will replace two older schools. The site will feature green technology, outdoor spaces, and a community-friendly design. Delays and bid protests resolved, CTA Construction Managers will proceed with building.
Shutterstock photo/Jim Barber
Work crews with CTA Construction Managers in Waltham, Mass., will begin building a new $97.5 elementary school on South East Street in the town of Amherst during the week of Jan. 13, with occupancy of the building for students and staff on track for Fall 2026, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported Dec. 30.
Amherst officials announced that a contract with CTA, as the low bidder, was signed by Town Manager Paul Bockelman, meaning that on-site work can now commence about three months after the original schedule would have had construction under way by mid-October.
Cathy Schoen, Amherst's District 1 town councilor and chair of the local Elementary School Building Committee, called the contract signing a "wonderful New Year's present to all of us."
"Our children and the entire town owe a big thanks to our staff for getting a contract with costs under control and construction scheduled to begin in a few weeks on the exciting new school," she told the Gazette, based in nearby Northampton.
CTA will prioritize construction of the new building, due to be built immediately south of Fort River School. Demolition of the existing structures, including the 1970s-era school it will replace, will be carried out all the way through the fall of 2026, with all remaining site work to conclude by June 15, 2027, the Gazette added.
The completion of the new 575-student, kindergarten through 5th grade school, with five classrooms per grade level, will lead to local school officials closing both Fort River and another aging building housing the Wildwood School on Strong Street, while Crocker Farm School on West Street will become a K-5 school and continue to serve as the school system's Early Education Center.
Additionally, a 6th Grade Academy, possibly to open inside the Amherst Regional Middle School, would open in time for the fall 2026 semester.
Designs Also Call for School to Host After-Hours Events
Amherst's new elementary school will be a net zero energy building, utilizing ground source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to provide 100 percent of its energy needs.
The site will include space for outdoor learning and play featuring innovative and accessible playground equipment. A restoration of the site's playing fields will be done, and new basketball courts, trails and rain gardens will be built.
As part of the goal of creating an elementary school designed for after-hours use, it also will include a cafeteria equipped with a performance stage, according to the Northampton-based news source.
To ensure that the project stays on schedule, any overtime costs required to accelerate work will be assessed on a time and expense basis, the Gazette learned. That means Amherst will pay for the actual time crews spend working on the project and be added to the cost of any materials or expenses incurred during that time.
Any costs assessed in the time and expenses basis will require approval from the project team, and will be subject to what the town is calling a "pre-established upside cap."
The time and expenses basis also will be used to evaluate any costs attributed to winter conditions. The building project team must approve these costs, as well, and a similar upside cap will be in place.
Meeting the new school's fall 2026 opening remained a priority for the town, according to Bockelman. CTA submitted the lowest of three bids for the construction of just the school building itself at $73.48 million, $4.8 million below the funding agreement between the town and state.
However, the Daily Hampshire Gazette noted that the project was then delayed due to bid protests submitted by two construction industry organizations and one competing bidder. They had alleged that CTA was ineligible for the award. After a thorough public hearing and investigation facilitated by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, all bid protests were denied.
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