The School District of River Falls is grateful for the longstanding support the community has for our district.
This webpage will be updated regularly to provide the River Falls community with transparent financial information and updates on facilities projects made possible by the February 2024 facilities bond.
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Since the successful referendum, River Falls has been working through initial planning steps. These steps include verifying the existing conditions of the schools, working through the design and construction schedules, and early engagement with some of the schools' staff.
To ensure proper design, the district has created a "Core Planning Team''. This team is made up of administration members, a school board member, and partners from both Bray Architects and Kraus-Anderson Construction. During the design phase, the Core Planning team will continue to meet bi-weekly, engage with staff and routinely review budgets to ensure the projects are on track.
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River Falls High School
WORK COMPLETED
• Addition: Exterior precast walls are set and ready for structural steel.
WORK IN PROGRESS
• Existing School: Removing ductwork and lights in the Fitness Room.
• Addition: Grouting bottom of the precast walls. Laying out and installing structural steel layout for Main Level
WORK UPCOMING
• Existing School: Installing structural steel and decking in existing vestibule. Pouring concrete floor on top of stairwell decking. Installing mechanical/electrical/plumbing rough-ins for vestibule and Fitness Room.
• Addition: Setting the precast plank on top of the structural steel. Building the CMU bearing walls for the Storage Room. Setting structural steel and decking for the roof.
Transportation Center
WORK COMPLETED
- Exterior precast walls are now set. Catch Basins are set in the garage section.
Work in Progress
- Installing interior underground and in-wall plumbing rough-ins. Building the CMU bearing walls along the office spaces.
work upcoming
- Setting the precast plank on top of the CMU bearing walls. Setting structural steel and decking for the roof. Installing the in-floor heating. Final grading interior and pour concrete floor. Installing mechanical/electrical/plumbing in-wall rough-ins.
Transportation Center and RFHS - drone footage April 2025
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RFHS exterior walls
RFHS exterior precast walls are set and ready for structural steel.
Transportation Center exterior precast walls are now set.
concrete walls at the transportation center
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Work completed
- Exterior concrete footings and foundations poured and backfilled.
- Soil corrections for the interior building footprint complete.
work in progress
- Interior underground plumbing rough-ins.
Concrete footings being set at the Transportation Center.
work upcoming
- Digging, forming and pouring the interior footings.
- Building the CMU bearing walls along the Office space that the precast plank sits on.
- Precast walls tentatively scheduled for erection the week of April 7th.
Exterior concrete footings and foundations are poured and backfilled.
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WORK COMPLETED
- Existing School: Slab on grade installed in vestibule and ready for structural steel.
- Exterior insulation demoed and out of the way for precast.
- All architectural items in the Fitness Room demoed, such as the ceiling and flooring.
- Addition: All underground utilities and fire hydrant installed up to subgrade.
- All footings, poured walls, and piers complete.
- Backfilling complete with the exception of the North wall until precast is set.
Work in Progress
- Existing School: Demoing the ductwork and lights in the Fitness Room.
- Addition: Crane is getting set up and ready to start setting precast on March 26th.
Work Upcoming
- Existing School: Installing structural steel in vestibule for the second-floor platform.
- Addition: Setting all precast walls for the addition.
- Installing structural steel columns for the precast plank.
- Setting the precast plank on top of the steel columns.
- Building the CMU bearing walls for the Storage Room.
All footings, poured walls, and piers are complete.
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Demoing the ductwork and lights in the Fitness Room.
Crane is ready to start setting precast on March 26th.
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WHAT’S NEW?
Transportation Center
Ground thaw process at the new Transportation Center site. Excavation begins this month!
River Falls High School
Construction to the RFHS addition is underway with concrete demo complete and footings being dug and poured. Columns and precast walls are scheduled to be set by the end of March.
The Bus Garage is being prepared for excavation.
The favorable weather conditions have helped keep projects on schedule.
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Check out the aerial view of construction at the Transportation Center and RFHS - March 2025!
Transportation Center and RFHS - a view from our drone
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Construction will begin soon! As of January 27, 2025, the RFHS athletic roundabout drop-off and the athletic entrance will be closed to prepare for construction.
Note that students must enter through door 202 (the band door).
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What's New?
November was another productive month with a lot of detailed coordination between the district, Bray Architects, the engineers, and Kraus-Anderson. The project remains on schedule with construction documents set to be released in early December at which point Kraus-Anderson will seek bids on behalf of the district. The tennis courts are on schedule and the work planned for 2024 has been completed. The remainder of the work will be completed in spring 2025.
view December update in PDF format
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Planning and Design Update
Timeline for Project Bids
Bids documents sent out to bidders
Friday, December 6
Bid period
Friday, December 6 through Friday, December 20
Pre-bid walk throughs
Tuesday, December 10
Bid due date
Thursday, December 19
Guaranteed maximum price (GMP) issued to district
Monday, January 6
Update provided to Finance & Facilities Committee
Monday, January 13
Additional Safety & Security Update
The district increased its physical security of the main IT closet which contains district servers, network switches, firewalls and distribution units. This upgrade is another layer of security against data breaches, network disruptions, and potential financial losses for the district.
Conceptual Rendering: High School Multipurpose Room
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What's New?
This past month Kraus-Anderson and their construction team completed the installation of the tennis court base and adjacent concrete pavement. Bray Architects has finalized the design of the remaining projects and are focusing their attention on completing the drawings and preparing to issue them to Kraus-Anderson for bid. The engineers have been working with the district to finalize the building security, maintenance, and infrastructure scope of work which will be included in the bid documents.
view Nov update in PDF format
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what's next
Once construction documents are completed, they will be issued to Kraus-Anderson for bidding. During the bidding phase the construction budgets will be finalized and contracts issued. Construction documents will be submitted to the State for permitting and drawings will be issued to the City of River Falls for approval. Construction is scheduled to begin early 2025.
schedule update
- Long lead items bid package – end of October
- Issue 100% Construction Documents – beginning of December
- Issue for Bid – beginning of December
- Bids due – end of December
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new tennis court and adjacent sidewalks
new tennis court and adjacent sidewalks
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WHAT’S NEW?
September was an exciting month, Kraus-Anderson and the construction team started the demolition of the tennis courts. Bray Architects focused on the exterior design of the Transportation Center and Multi-purpose room addition and presented this to the district with much enthusiasm. With most of the design work complete, Bray and their engineers have been focusing on building security, maintenance, and infrastructure improvements at all the schools.
view update in PDF format
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Planning and Design Update
Rocky Branch and Westside Elementary Schools
The layout of the new student bathroom has been finalized and will include the same plumbing fixtures and interior finishes as other recently renovated student bathrooms around the district. Similar to Meyer Middle School and Greenwood Elementary School, the team has also been focusing on safety, security, and building infrastructure improvements.
Meyer Middle School and Greenwood Elementary School
Over the past few months, Bray Architects, their engineers, building and grounds staff, Kraus-Anderson, and the Core Planning Team have been working together to determine the extents of the security, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure improvements. After visiting the schools to verify the existing conditions, the design team will document the improvements and work with Kraus-Anderson and the Core Planning Team to ensure this scope of work aligns with the referendum budget.
High School Tennis Courts
Kraus-Anderson and their construction team started the demolition of the existing tennis courts. The tennis court base layer will be installed this year to allow for any settlement over the winter. Next year the courts will be finished and ready for play.
Transportation Center
The design team has finalized the interior and exterior materials and finishes and presented them to the Core Planning Team. The civil engineers have been focusing on finalizing the site design including the pavement around the building for proper water drainage, and pedestrian and vehicle access to the building.
High School Multipurpose Room
The design team has been collaborating with the Core Planning Team and athletic department on the use and layout of the multi-purpose indoor facility. Several meetings have been hosted to work through the turf flooring, training and weight room equipment layouts, and building access.
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transportation center
demolition of the tennis courts
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RFHS multipurpose room - SE view
Multipurpose room - entrance
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PLANNING & DESIGN UPDATE
The Core Planning Team has been focused on making sure the new Transportation Center, multipurpose room addition, and the security and building system upgrades align with the approved referendum. To assist with this process, we have had meetings with user groups and select staff along with our engineering partners to make sure all the necessary infrastructure upgrades are captured within the scope of work. The design team has been using the latest 3D technology to scan the schools to ensure this information is accurately captured.
view update in PDF format
WHAT'S NEXT?
- Continue Core Planning Team meetings
- Engineering coordination
- Work through interior design concepts
- Interior finish/material discussions
- Work with City of River Falls on local approvals
SCHEDULE
- Design completion - November 2024
- Tennis court construction starts - Fall 2024
- Bids due - early 2025
- Construction starts - Spring 2025
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demolition at new transportation center site
River Falls High School - multipurpose room rendering
new transportation center - training/break room rendering
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Positive Progress
With support from voters for our $28M referendum projects, the district has solidified our bond details for financing these projects. Although our conservative estimates were explained at a 5.25% interest rate on financing these projects, we have successfully locked-in at a much lower 4.14% interest rate, which decreases the impact on taxpayers.
Now that we have confirmed our bond debt structure at a lower rate, the actual tax impact is estimated to be at $51 per $100,000 home value in each year. This is lower than the anticipated tax impact that was shared prior to the referendum!
Facilities Projects Update:
The District’s Design and Planning Team has been meeting regularly, including with user groups, to discuss, gather feedback and begin designing the referendum facility projects. Once these preliminary design specifications are complete, details will be finalized to allow construction bids to be let out publicly. Through those discussions it has been determined that a 2-story design for the high school multipurpose space is most advantageous from a user perspective and financial impact. The overall square feet dimensions and related budget will remain within the same parameters explained to the public prior to the referendum vote.
In addition, the district is planning to build the new Transportation Center on the recently-purchased property adjacent to the current site. These, and the majority of the other remaining referendum projects, will begin in summer 2025.
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