AMHERST — A municipal advertisement is seeking bids from general contractors interested in constructing the planned $97.5 million, net-zero energy elementary school building next to the existing Fort River Elementary School at 70 South East St.

On Wednesday, the advertisement for bids was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and bid forms and contract documents were posted online for the 105,750-square-foot building where 575 students in kindergarten through grade 5 will be taught beginning in the fall of 2026. Electronic bids are due by Aug. 14 at 2 p.m., with an optional prebid conference and site visit set for July 17 at 9 a.m. 

The advertisement states that $78 million is the estimated cost of construction for the building designs, completed by DiNisco Design of Boston. The total cost for the project includes so-called soft costs, such as equipment and furnishings.

District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who chairs the Elementary School Building Committee, told the Town Council at its June 24 meeting that officials won’t know if the price tag is in line with estimates until early September, after bids are submitted by general contractors and sub bidders and evaluated.

There has been some concern about cost escalation after the lone bid for the $46.1 million Jones Library expansion and renovation project came in $6.5 million over estimates, forcing Town Manager Paul Bockelman to reject the bid and for a three-month process to get underway for architects to reduce costs through so-called value engineering. That project is expected to be rebid by the end of the year. 

Amherst officials have previously said they are unsure if the same situation may unfold with the school project, though Bockelman and others have noted it is somewhat less complicated to build a new school building on a vacant site next to the existing school, rather than expanding and renovating an existing library building in the middle of downtown.

When the new school, powered by ground-source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels, opens, both Fort River and another elementary school, Wildwood School on Strong Street, will close. Both are 1970s-era schools that use an open classroom, or open quad, format that has made classrooms noisy and limited natural light. Fort River is supposed to be demolished to make way for playing fields and other outdoor elements that will support the new school, while the future of Wildwood is not yet determined.

At the same time, sixth graders at those schools and the town’s third elementary school, Crocker Farm, will begin classes at the Amherst Regional Middle School, in what is being called the 6th Grade Academy. While in the same building, those students are likely to be be set apart from the Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury seventh and eighth graders at the regional school.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held at the site of the new elementary school back in March, near where pre-site work was being done by Gagliarducci Construction. That work included putting down a sufficient base to support the three-story building.

Schoen also noted that a big pile of dirt on site that’s the same weight as the new building is there to compact the soil.

The work already completed is a sign of what’s to come, she said.

“It’s a pretty exciting moment as we move to the next phase of the building,” Schoen said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.