KATY ISD SCHOOLS BY NAME, NUMBER, YEAR BUILT, TOTAL COST, ARCHITECT, AND
ARCHITECT'S FEE
The following chart shows the elementary, junior high and high schools that have
been built over the years. Older schools existed, but they are not listed here.
They have either been torn down or sit unused. Most of the schools, with the
exception of Wolfe Elementary, have been refurbished, added on to, or totally
gutted over the years. The “Total Cost as a Capital Asset,” taken from the
school district’s financial information, is the most comprehensive indication I
could find of the cumulative spending for each of the Katy schools. If anyone
has a more accurate number for the total amount spent on any of these schools, I
would appreciate having it.
Looking at this list one can easily see the rapid acceleration in cost of school
buildings after the arrival of Dr. Merrell as the superintendent in 1995 and
continued
by Mr. Frailey after his arrival in 2007.. The increase in cost is attributable
to
increases in architects' fees, arbitrary increases in the inflation factor, and
the increases in usage of ancillary construction activities that may or
may not be necessary.
Initial architects' fees may be shown for the first school in a series by the
same architect.
Plans for subsequent schools may be a repeat of the same design--thus the
"lower" fee.
Things to note: *the tremendous increase in the architect's fee in just a few years
*the fact that the prototype often costs less than the schools based upon it
*only two architectural firms are getting the major business--PBK the high
schools, junior highs, and major facilities--SBWV all the elementary schools
*look at the inflation factor over the last ten years as it's pretty significant
*the size of classrooms, the bedrock of a school building, get smaller with each new building
SCHOOL NUMBER YEAR
OPEN TOTAL COST ARCHITECT ARCHITECT'S FEE
Elementary Schools
Katy Elementary
I 1965
$6,585,631* Not
Known
No Record
Wolfe Elementary
II 1968
$2,576,327
Not Known
No Record
2012 $17,000,000
PBK
No Record
West Memorial Elementary
III 1974
$12,618,904* Not
Known
No Record
Memorial Parkway Elementary IV 1978 $7,316,225*
Not Known No Record
Hutsell Elementary
V 1978
$11,189,488*
Not Known No Record
Bear Creek Elementary VI 1978
$5,037,125*
MRW Architects No Record
Cimarron Elementary VII 1980 $8,405,227* Goleman & Rolfe No Record
Diane Winborn Elementary VIII 1981 $7,101,911* Goleman & Rolfe No Record
Nottingham Country Elementary
IX
1981 $12,985,494* Goleman
& Rolfe
No Record
Sundown Elementary
X 1982
$6,539,381 Goleman & Rolfe No Record
Mayde Creek Elementary
XI 1983 $6,532,730 Goleman & Rolfe No Record
Hazel Pattison Elementary XII
1989 $9,172,143 Goleman & Rolfe No Record
Loraine Golbow Elementary XIII 1989 $6,320,460 Goleman
No Record
Edna Mae Fielder Elementary XIV 1993
$6,499,032
Goleman
$252.000
Jeanette Hayes Elementary XV 1995
$6,931,243 Goleman $185,012
Polly Ann McRoberts Elementary XVI 1997
$7,772,213 Goleman
$217,500
Roosevelt Alexander Elementary XVII 1998
$8,762,659 Goleman
$156,316
James Williams Elementary XVIII
2000
$9,602,370 Goleman $233,322
Sue Creech Elementary
XIX
2000 $9.614.406 Goleman
$233,322
Robert King Elementary XX
2001 $11,515,486
SBWV
$557,849
Betty & Jean Schmalz Elementary XXI
2001 $11,159,262
SBWV
$300,176
Odessa Kilpatrick Elementary
XXII
2003 $11,936,900
SBWV $342,127
Roberts Wright Rylander Elem. XXIII 2004
$12,448,934
SBVW $360,552
Jo Ella Exley Elementary
XXIV 2004
$11,320,721
SBVW
$281,844
Jack & Sharon Rhoads Elem. XXV
2004 $11,070,560
SBVW
$326,398
Franz Elementary
XXVI 2004
$11,604,223
SBVW $286,018
Michael Griffin Elementary***** XXVII
2006 $14,223,878
SBVW $330,758
Ursula Stephens Elementary XXVIII 2007 $13,325,920 SBWV $599,874
Wood Creek Elementary XXIX 2007 $12,500,517 SBWV $521,081
Bonnie Holland Elementary XXX 2008 $13,962,635 SBVW $573,847
Morton Ranch Elementary**** XXXI 2008 $17, 556,038 SBWV $526,681
Stan Stanley Elementary XXXII 2009 $15,229,251 SBWV $667,338
Falcon Landing Elementary****** XXXIII 2011 $18,653,859 SBWV $559,616
Firethorne Elementary****** XXXIV 2011 $18,653,859 SBWV $559,616
Cinco Ranch Far West Elementary******
XXV 2011 $18,653,859 SBWV $559,616
Junior High Schools
Katy Junior High
I 1947/1994* $12,356,993
Farrell Sundin
$291,740
West Memorial Junior High
II 1976* $8,616,780 Not
Known $517,007
Mayde Creek Junior High
III 1980 $13,664,821 Not
Known $819,889
Memorial Parkway Junior High
IV 1982 $11,272,082 SHWC
$676,325
T. H. McDonald Junior High
V 1991 $10,465,719
FKP $627,943
Rodger & Ellen Beck Junior High
VI 1996
$12,322,799 Farrell Sundin
$300,241
Garland McMeans Junior High
VII
2000 $15,739,113
FKP $498,700
Cinco Ranch Junior High
VIII 2001
$16.881,621
PBK
$580,650
Morton Ranch Junior High
IX 2003 $20,855,652
PBK
$959,650
Beckendorff Junior High
X 2004
$18,948,425
PBK $535,566
Cardiff Junior High*** XI 2008 $27,583,336 PBK $1,050,927
Wood Creek Junior High*** XII 2008 $29,288,118 PBK $1,731,340
Junior High 13*******
XIII 2011
$32,787,909
PBK $983,637
High Schools
Katy High School
I 1947* $55,629,662
James E. Taylor High School
II 1979 * $59,256,464
Mayde Creek High School
III 1984*
$57,546,274 SHWC $852,500
(Original cost for Mayde Creek High School was $15,000,000-- additions and repairs have brought the "cost" up. The original architects were Swanson Hiester Wilson Claycomb. They charged $852,500 as their fee. Compare that fee to the $3,659,550 fee charged by PBK in 1999 for the Cinco Ranch High School just fifteen years later!)
(Perhaps we can look forward to the adjusted "totals" for newer schools
as they too have repairs!)
Cinco Ranch High School
IV 1999 *
$74,423,228
PBK $3,659,550
Morton Ranch High School
V
2004 $56,162,667
PBK $2,021,199
(9th grade Center was approved
in a bond issue, but the Center
was not built yet when this amount
was established which
accounts for the lower initial cost of this school)
Morton Ranch 9th Grade Center 2008
$13,476,607 PBK
$555,194
Seven Lakes High School
VI 2005
$63,091,000** PBK
$2,275,838
Tompkins High School********* VII 2013 $115,589,250 PBK $3,467,678
**(Land was $2,500,000; Furniture & equipment was $4,900,000 and Fees and "other" were $3,606,000 for a total of $77,424,704)
(The fee PBK charged for Tompkins High School in 2013 was $3,467,678
--that would be $2,615,178 more than was charged in 1984 for Mayde Creek High school!
Can anyone say "inflation"?)
* Designates schools that have had additions, upgrades, etc. and the total
should include those extras.
***"Built using Beckendorff prototype" (Source: KISD web site 11/26/2007) which should indicate that the architect's fee should be less, not more than the original fee (Beckendorff)--at least that's the pitch that's been given to the public all these years--it's also the reason given for staying with the same architect!
****"Built using Wood Creek Elementary prototype."
*****"Built using Franz Elementary and Rhoads Elementary prototype."
******"Built using a refined repeat of Stan Stanley Elementary."
*******"Built using a refined repeat of WoodCreek Junior High"
*********"Built using a refined repeat of Seven Lakes High School"
OTHER KISD BUILDINGS:
Leonard E . Merrell Center
General Contractor: Durotech
Architect: PBK Architects, Inc.
Current Estimated Total Project Cost (from TIRZ Funds): $23,549,168
Completion Date: March 2005
Katy ISD Project Manager: Sabrina Sharma
Description: The Leonard E. Merrell Center will be located on the west side of the Education Support Complex. The facility will include 5,600 stadium seats, concession areas, ticket booths, office space, locker rooms, and a full service kitchen. A removable basketball court will be included. when the court is removed, loose seating on the floor will increase overall seating capacity to 7,000. The Merrell Center will be used for a wide range of District and community functions including sporting events, concerts, graduation ceremonies, and banquets, to name a few.
(copied from http://web.archive.org/we/20051104064720/katyisd.org/services/facilities/merrell _center)
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Specs for Seven Lakes High School
The fifth high school is 480,000 square foot building which will hold 2,400 students.
The facility will have typical classroom areas and science laboratories as well as specialty areas like fine arts, vocational and athletic. The fine arts area will include a 900 seat auditorium, a black box theater, a band hall, and orchestra room, a choir room and classrooms.
The vocational area will be comprised of an agriculture shop, metal shop, food science classrooms and communication and construction graphics labs. The athletic area will contain a competition gymnasium, a practice gymnasium, a drill team gymnasium, a wrestling room, eight lane competition swimming pool, field house and locker/dressing areas.
Additionally the school will have a library and an administration suite. The 112-acre site amenities will consist of competition football, baseball and softball fields, practice fields and nine tennis courts.
Parking will be provided for 1,427 cars and bus and visitor drop-off areas will also be included.
Start/completion dates: August 2002/May 2004
Project Value: $66.7 million
Construction Manager: Gilbane Building Co., Houston
Architect: PBK Architects Inc., Houston
Structural Engineer: Jones/Borne Inc., Humble
Mechanical Engineer: CHP& Associates Inc., Houston
Sources: Katy ISD documents, Open Records Requests, The Katy Times