The district’s first auditorium and tennis courts are one step closer to breaking ground.

Construction bids for the two projects will be posted on Monday, Superintendent Eric Knost told the board at Thursday’s meeting. He estimates both projects will break ground in October.

Knost said he’d bring a recommended bid for the tennis courts at the September board meeting and one for the auditorium in October. The superintendent said he wanted a four-week bidding process—rather than two weeks—for the auditorium because of the intricacy of the project.

Auditorium

The board approved the district’s first auditorium in January and set a $6 million cap for the project. Knost still expects to be under budget.

The 525-seat auditorium is proposed for the south end of Mehlville High School.

“The end result is going to be beautiful,” Knost said. “It’s going to be, I think, the exclamation mark not only for the district, but definitely for the Mehlville campus.”

Tennis Courts

When the district learned a $70,000 grant existed from the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Knost proposed building eight tennis courts at Bernard Middle School.

The superintendent said the lack of tennis courts at Mehlville High School and the run-down courts at Oakville was the number one complaint he heard from parents and the community.

The project has approval from St. Louis County and the Metropolitan Sewer District, but was waiting on final approval from the USTA.

Knost said the bid would include an alternate option for lighting on the tennis courts. Lighting was not originally presented as an option, but the superintendent said a combination of grant money and favorable budget projections made the option possible.

The lights would largely be for community use at night after school practices and games were over, he said.

Read more:

• District Plans for New Auditorium, Tennis Courts
• New Auditorium to Improve Performing Arts Programs
• New Auditorium Headed to the Mehlville School District
• Projections Show District Auditorium Under Budget
• District Hires Architect for New Auditorium
• Tennis Courts, Auditorium Closer to Construction
• New Auditorium Changing Location at Mehlville High School