Thanks in part to dry weather over the past few months, construction on the Festus R-6 School District Performing Arts Center is on track to be completed in fall 2021, Superintendent Link Luttrell said Oct. 1.
The contractor, Brockmiller Construction of Farmington, was awarded a $12,377,660 contract to build the center.
“So far, so good,” Luttrell said. “We have been fortunate to have had an extended period of dry weather, which has allowed (Brockmiller) to make a lot of progress.”
However, the project, which includes a 30,000-square-foot building with a 750-seat auditorium, still has a long way to go, he said.
“It is still early on in the project. The winter will tell a lot as far as the timeline,” Luttrell said.
The Performing Arts Center is one of the big-ticket items that will be funded with revenue from Proposition F, a 59-cent tax increase voters approved in April 2019.
The center is being built next to the Festus High School annex, which houses the school’s new band room.
Luttrell said the Performing Arts Center will offer a number of amenities for students, who up to now have performed in the high school gymnasium.
“It will have a good-size lobby. It will have a dressing room. It has a media room. It will have public restrooms,” he said. “I really believe it will be a facility our entire school and community will be proud of and will be utilized for both school and community events.”