Zachary school district accepts bid for theater
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ZACHARY — The Zachary Community School Board accepted the lowest of nine bids Thursday for construction of a new performing arts theater at Zachary High School and took the only bid for a new type of construction bond issue.
Quadrants Inc., which is building a School Board office on Church Street near the high school, submitted the low bid of $7.26 million for the 450-seat theater.
The bid was lower than the original construction estimate of $8.3 million, said Abbigail Brown of CSRS Inc., the board’s construction program manager.
In addition to stage productions, the theater will be used for concerts and recitals and band, vocal music and art instruction. A theater on campus will be demolished.
The School Board accepted Chicago investment banking firm Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley and Co.’s bid to buy $5.72 million in construction bonds, which will finance construction of the district’s early learning center on Rollins Road Extension.
The bonds were sold under a program authorized by federal stimulus package legislation that gives the investor a federal income tax credit of 6 percent for lending the money. The School Board also will pay the buyer’s 3.06 percent interest.
Because the School Board will be able to invest money it puts aside each year to pay off the bonds, the offsetting earnings will effectively lower the interest rate to below 2 percent, bond attorney Jerry R. Osborne said.
The amount of the bond issue was set by the Louisiana Department of Education, while the Internal Revenue Service sets the tax credit rate on such bonds daily, Osborne said.
The bonds are part of $25 million in borrowing that voters approved for continued school construction in the district.
In addition to the central office and early learning center, construction is under way on a gymnasium complex at the high school. The School Board also is moving forward with plans to build a ninth-grade academy on the campus.
On another matter, the board approved Superintendent Warren Drake’s recommendation of Timothy Jordan for the vacant post of supervisor of school and home relations.
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