The Festus R-6 School District $30 million gym and fieldhouse construction project remains on schedule despite the builders needing to deal with rock, an executive of the architectural firm reported Oct. 15.
The new gym is being built on the side of Festus High School, 501 Westwind Drive, in the area near where the building’s existing gym sits. The fieldhouse location is near the baseball field on the other side of the campus.
Roy Mangan, project manager-principal of Archimages of Kirkwood, said weather has largely cooperated.
“We’ve had a lot of good success,” Mangan said. “A little bit of rain here in the last few days. But, other than that, we’ve had some really good construction weather.”
Mangan and Festus Superintendent Nicki Ruess both spoke of rock that builders have encountered while preparing the ground for the project.
“For what it’s worth, (the rock’s) breaking well,” Ruess said. “So, that’s promising in that they’re able to break it pretty easily.”
Mangan spoke of “12 feet of rock.”
After the meeting, Ruess said dealing with rock was not a surprise for a Festus R-6 construction project.
“Rock removal was anticipated and is included in the project’s budget,” she said.
Mangan said people should start seeing building construction in the next couple months.
“We’re getting ready to, in the beginning of November, go ahead and scrape the grass off of there and start building the building,” he said. “So, you’re going to start to see truckloads of steel show up for the building, and it’s going to start going vertical after they put in the foundation in that November-December timeframe.”
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. Brockmiller collaborates with school district officials and Archimages.
The board has approved four different bid packages for the project, leaving only one more to bid, Ruess said.
“Package 5, which covers asphalt work, remains the final major bid package” she said. “A bid date has not yet been established.”
The targets to open the buildings are the fall of 2027 for the fieldhouse and January 2029 for the gym, she said.
“Yes, those remain our current targets,” Ruess said. “The fieldhouse is scheduled to be completed before the gym. However, construction of the gym and parking lots will continue after the fieldhouse is completed, so portions of the property will remain an active construction site. Safe access and coordination will be important throughout that transition.”
The gym-fieldhouse project is coming about through revenue from Proposition F that voters approved in April 2019, authorizing a 59-cent tax levy increase to fund multiple improvements across the district.