Costs continue to climb at the Katy Independent School District's new football stadium.

The stadium, at 1733 Fort Bend Road beside the existing Rhodes Stadium, will cost about $70.3 million, up from the expected $57 million price tag, according to the Houston Chronicle. The stadium is expected to open for the 2017 football season.

The project is being funded by a $748 million bond approved by voters in 2014. Funding for the project had originally gone to a vote in 2013 for an even larger stadium costing $69 million, but that bond referendum failed to pass.

With a $70 million price tag, the Katy stadium surpasses the $69.9 million being spent for a 12,000-seat stadium at McKinney in Dallas, which was expected to undergo construction in September, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Dallas-based HKS Inc. and Fort Worth-based VLK Architects designed the stadium.

The school district broke ground on the new stadium in February. It will include 2,200 more seats than the current Rhodes stadium and will also feature a multipurpose space for the athletic department. Rhodes Stadium will continue to operate.

The 2014 bond is also going toward building six new schools, renovating six campuses and upgrading technology in the district.

The Houston Independent School District also is facing rising costs for its projects funded by a bond approved in 2012. The district hired international firm KPMG LLP late last year, around the time that the board of education approved funds to cover a $211 million shortfall for the $1.89 billion bond program. Results of the audit, released in August, pointed to inflation — as well as factors such as procedures and oversight — for driving up costs for HISD's construction projects.

 

Source : bizjournals.com

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