Whale Branch project architect contract approved for $750K

McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, a Greenville-based architectural firm, will design Whale Branch Early College High School’s first performing arts center and a larger gymnasium for roughly $750,000.

The Beaufort County School Board voted 8-0 at a Friday work session to approve a contract “in the base amount of $750,000 with reimbursables up to $25,000 and a due diligence fee not to exceed $40,000.”

The amount of the contract is five percent of the estimated $16.5 million project.

District officials said earlier this week that their unwritten administrative practice is to withhold names of committee members until after the contract is signed.

The committee members were announced at the work session:

▪  Robert Oetting, director of the district’s office of facilities, planning and construction

▪  Anthony Pernice, project manager for district’s office of facilities, planning and construction

▪  Mona Lise Dickson, Whale Branch Early College High School principal

▪  Derrick Coaxum, assistant facilities manager for the Town of Hilton Head

The firm was the committee’s top choice among the eight that submitted proposals.

This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Whale Branch project architect contract approved for $750K."