Festus R-6 Board of Education members on March 26 approved the next stages of the district’s estimated $30 million gymnasium and fieldhouse construction project.
The project is taking place behind Festus High School, 501 Westwind Drive.
Board members unanimously voted to approve Bid Package 2 for the gym and Bid Package 3 for the fieldhouse.
“I am incredibly excited to see this project continue to move forward and begin to take shape,” Superintendent Nicki Ruess said. “This is a direct result of our community’s support in 2019, and we are grateful for the trust they placed in our district. Because of that support, we are now able to deliver facilities that will serve our students, staff and community for generations to come. This project truly reflects what it means to be powered by purpose.”
Ruess was referring to the fact that the gym-fieldhouse project is being funded with revenue from Proposition F that voters approved in April 2019, authorizing a 59-cent tax levy increase to fund multiple improvements across the district.
In September 2025, the board approved taking a construction manager at risk (CMaR) approach to the massive gym-fieldhouse project, choosing Brockmiller Construction of Farmington to serve as CMaR. As CMaR, Brockmiller collaborates with school district officials and the project’s architect, Archimages of Kirkwood.
According to a written statement from the district, Bid Package 2 represents the largest portion of the gym project at a total cost of $22,802,002 and includes the full construction of the gym, including renovations to the current locker rooms, additional referee and classroom spaces, Tiger logo flooring in the new locker rooms and integrated security system allowances. Eighteen contractors will be involved in various components of the gym construction; 57 bids were received for the various scopes of work including such areas as concrete, electrical, plumbing and others.
Package 3 covers the construction of an indoor fieldhouse through a pre-engineered metal building structure at a cost of $1,476,830.
Board members approved Package 1 for site work of the project at a price of $3,990,007 at a special meeting Feb. 5.
“As you have seen, we have gotten to work on that (site work). We are excited to keep moving forward,” Matt Franklin, Brockmiller Construction project manager, said at the March 26 meeting.
During a discussion of the CMaR process during the meeting, Ruess said, “I love this process,” with Franklin agreeing.
“That is the beauty of the CMaR process, we become a team up front, work through those items – what we can take out to improve the items you really wanted,” Franklin said.
District officials began discussing plans for the fieldhouse in January 2021, but in November 2022, the school board voted unanimously to put the project on hold due to the need for more classroom space because of increased student enrollment. Creating that extra space took priority, and the district has since built an addition to Festus Middle School and is building an addition to Festus Intermediate School to add classrooms.