Capital improvements for schools during COVID? Why not?

Jacob Steimer
Memphis Business Journal

While 2020 was a poor year for retail, hotel, and office construction, schools’ capital projects pushed through.

Though some municipalities began to worry about sales tax revenue, most public school projects remained on track, according to Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. managing principal Justin Grinder.

Many of these became much easier to complete because kids were learning from homes, not at the worksites.

“Normally, you’re trying to cram in all your school projects in three months,” Grinder said. “[If you don’t], the kids are there, and you’ve got to work around whatever their schedules are.”

For private school projects, 2020 was often a matter of timing, Grinder said. If a school’s capital campaign had largely been completed, the project went forward. If the campaign had just started, it was paused.

Fleming Architects principal Scott Fleming used the example of Christian Brothers High School’s new fieldhouse.

“They’re plowing forward,” Fleming said. “They had every opportunity to not start construction. They started during COVID.”

Fleming said the education niche of the construction industry has stayed strong throughout the pandemic, and he expects that to continue in 2021.

“Nobody’s really pulling back, because everybody knows this is a short-term thing, and kids will be back in school,” he said. “We’re still talking to administrators, both public and private. … I haven’t seen any slowdown.”

School projects for Grinder, Taber & Grinder in the past year:

Houston High School

Dogwood Elementary School

Clarksdale Collegiate

Evangelical Christian School