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In a recent news item (here) we learned that the desired refurbishments for several Portland Public Schools will cost between $350 and $415 per square foot which is much higher than most other schools according to this organization. We wondered what that a half a billion dollar bond would buy. As it turns out it may be buying a platinum school. And I don’t just mean LEEDS platinum. I think there might be some precious metals in a bathroom somewhere (Alert to Matt Shelby and his buddies at Politifact: that last sentence is SATIRE).
If you’re doing your due diligence what you should do is get comparative prices. Real estate folks call them comps. And the school construction business provides them.
See them nearby.
But how do the Portland’s needlessly high prices stack up with businesses for instance? Not well, I’m afraid.
As I cast about yesterday for some prices per square foot for commercial buildings I found these numbers:
Motel/Hotel moderately priced: $230/sq ft finished.
Avg Bldg Costs in Oregon: $100-$150/sq ft finished
Even Pete the Banker thinks the Portland Public Schools numbers are way out of bounds:
Now this may not be fully comparable since the Portland projects are rehabs involving structural upgrade including seismic and I presume they have included a component of Administrative overhead (maybe a lot); but over $400/sf seems very high.Even new Class A Medical Offices seldom exceed $300 – $350/sf in cost and they seldom skimp on interior finish which is anywhere from $40 – $120 per sq ft. which is included in that cost figure range.
But what would Pete know, I mean he’s only spent decades in the business. Pssh! Still he sends along a typical one sheet for construction projects that he sees on a daily basis.
As you can see, the price per square foot comes out to $146. Pete says depending on how you finish it we’re looking at somewhere around $200/sq ft.
I even took a look at the price per square foot Trump Tower in Chicago, but all I could come up with was the purchase price for a pre owned condo which was $1620. That doesn’t tell us a lot about building costs–except that it’s only four times the price per square foot of a refurbished Jefferson High. Hey, wait a minute…
This pie in the sky plan to refurbish/replace these schools from the studs up came from nearly nowhere. Upgrading schools is always on somebody’s to-do list, but this plan is extraordinary. They threw EVERYthing in the plan, giving EVERY school SOMEthing so they wouldn’t feel left out (and parents will vote in favor of them). One school would be rebuilt but another school would get a lovely parting gift: smart boards. One school would get a studs-up remake, but another would get a new stage outfit and smart boards! They’re asking us to pay debt service on computer screens. Put another way, that would be like putting overhead projector screens on a bond measure. Don’t get me wrong, I like smart boards. My kid’s school has a couple. But bonding them is like bonding chairs for teachers. Dumb.
New schools don’t improve test scores, retention and English literacy which are Portland’s biggest problems.
In my next posts on this project I’ll cover reasons behind the high construction costs and what it will cost you and this story will be worth the wait. Check out Bojack’s recent post here about who’s paying for the big campaign in favor of the bond and levy measures (hint: look in the mirror!).
Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com
