At a Montauk School Board meeting on Tuesday, Superintendent Josh Odom and BBS Architects unveiled the first renderings of a nearly $34 million renovation to the 99-year-old school building. In December, taxpayers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the capital improvements, the first major overhaul of the school in more than 25 years.
Representatives from BBS said they worked to blend old and new parts of the school building so they’re stylistically in sync, while also keeping the building in a relevant conversation with other prominent local buildings like the Playhouse, the Tower, and Montauk Manor.
“They look great,” Mr. Odom said of the plans. “We’re really excited about them. We’re hoping to be able to submit them to the state in the spring.”
The plans include a new full-size gym, a larger library, increased classroom space within the building, and additional adult bathrooms. The current gym will be converted into a flexible space for performing arts and music programs, assemblies, and communal lunches. The portable classrooms built outside the gym in the 1970s will finally be removed.
“It’s been a long time coming for those [portables],” Mr. Odom said. “We’re in the planning process right now. We’re working with staff members. We’re working with architects. We’re working with the board of education just to plan out all the real minutiae, everything from how many instrument lockers we need to what color we’re painting the walls. So we’re really looking at the details of the project and making sure the square footages are correct.”
This week, the school published a request for proposals from construction management firms, which will have a month to submit their pitches. The planning and construction document review process comes next and should wrap up in June. Between July and September, the project will be submitted for New York State Education Department approval and third-party review. The bidding and awarding process is scheduled for October and November, with the hope that preconstruction might begin this coming December. If all goes according to plan, full construction would start in the summer of 2027 and wrap up by the start of the 2028 school year.
“It’s a big project and — as construction projects go — it’s never going to be a perfectly smooth road,” said Mr. Odom. “But I think there are some unique opportunities for kids baked in there that we can explore. We’ll have to roll with the punches a little bit as we get things done, but the end product, I think, is going to be worth it for the kids, the community, and the staff. It’s going to be a great outcome.”