New Pennsbury High School Price Tag Estimated To Be $266 Million

The Pennsbury School Board held a special meeting Thursday evening to go over more details on the proposed new high school in Falls Township.

KCBA Architects and SitelogIQ, the project construction manager, went over designs for a 495,000-square-foot facility that will replace the existing East and West high school buildings.

RELATED: Pennsbury School District Unveils Plans For New High School

The new school will feature a 1,000-seat auditorium, a three-story academic wing, and state-of-the-art athletic facilities including a natatorium and wrestling room. The design incorporates several features like a “learning stair” multi-use space in the common area, a large media center/library, multiple flexible learning spaces, an outdoor terrace, many windows to allow natural light inside, and the latest security measures.

The project is estimated to cost $266 million and is slated to begin construction in winter 2026 with completion targeted for summer 2029.

The new school building is being proposed for the area is a gravel parking lot along Hood Boulevard.

“We’ve been having a lot of meetings with the various departments and the administration,” said Mike Strohecker, from KCBA Architects. “We’ve completed the existing school study, reviewed HVAC systems, and done the preliminary grading plan.”

The new school is designed to accommodate 2,836 students, with core facilities like the gymnasium and cafeteria able to handle up to 3,000 students.

Walt Tack, vice president of pre-construction for SitelogIQ, said that the $266 million budget includes contingencies for inflation and unexpected expenses.

“We’ve allowed for all of those costs,” Tack said. “There is included in the soft cost an $8.5 million contingency to cover things that may come up during construction.”

School board members asked questions about safety measures, stormwater management, and parking.

The designers stated that modern safety features would be incorporated and that the new design should improve the site’s stormwater situation.

Superintendent Dr. Thomas Smith said that the district has been working closely with Falls Township on potential off-site student parking solutions during construction.

The project timeline includes submitting plans to Falls Township, with a Planning Commission meeting scheduled for November 26.

An Act 34 hearing, which is required by Pennsylvania School Code, is planned for May 2025 to provide further opportunity for public comment.

Several residents expressed concerns about the project’s cost, environmental impact, and necessity.

Andrew Dell, a Falls Township resident, questioned the speed the project was progressing at of the project.

“I’m not against a new school. I’m not against new anything,” Dell said. “But wouldn’t it be nice to go in with a hundred million dollars down on the school or $150 million down?”

Tim Daly, of Lower Makefield Township, called for a public referendum on the project.

“Put it up for referendum. Shut my big mouth and prove me wrong,” Daly challenged the board.

Robert Abrams, of Lower Makefield Township, called the presentation “bush league work” and accused the board of attempting to “defraud the community.”

Pennsbury has raised taxes and official said they would be putting some of that money aside for capital projects that are planned.

In addition to raising taxes, the district will use bond funds cover the costs of building a new high school.

Pennsbury’s CFO Chris Berdnik previously stated that the total principal and interest payments for the high school project’s bonds would amount to $569.4 million. He also mentioned that further capital projects at different facilities within the district might necessitate an additional borrowing of approximately $500 million.

The district will pay the bonds back over decades and in a wrap-around bond structure, which will allow for a lower debt payment in the beginning and a larger one toward the end in the early 2060s. The structure would be used because the district already has multi-million dollar debt payments from existing debts that will be paid off in the coming decade, officials said.

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