MTI construction could start in Feb.

MANATEE — For the better part of a half century, Manatee Technical Institute programs have been based in a jumble of more than 20 buildings on 34th Street West.

But school officials say those programs could finally be consolidated in a state-of-the-art 209,369-square-foot building on State Road 70 East opening in 2013.

Thursday, the Manatee County School District released several renderings and an executive summary of the project, carrying a price tag of $41 million, plus the cost of furnishings, equipment and technology.

The county school board is expected to be briefed on the project at its meeting Monday night. A suggested timeline shows construction starting in February 2011 and being substantially completed by December 2012.

“Our district has never built anything like this. It’s more like college construction,” said Jane Dreger, project manager and the district’s assistant director of Construction Services.

Manatee taxpayers originally approved funding for the project in 2002. But for years it has been tangled in disputes between the school district and the county and with neighbors along Caruso Road. Nearby residents said they feared traffic and noise impacts if the campus were to be built north of Braden River High School.

Much of the controversy was defused when school officials backed away from that location, and decided to build it south of the high school, fronting State Road 70.

Doug Wagner, the district’s director of adult, career and technical education, said the existing campus near Bayshore High School, has outlived its usefulness with its small classrooms and outdated design. Those small classrooms make it difficult to accommodate classes revolving around large equipment, such as auto body or mechanical repair.

The Herald previously reported that renovation of the 34th Street campus would be difficult because of possible asbestos contamination, and the age of the electrical and plumbing systems.

The new campus would have 860 student stations, 573 asphalt parking spaces and 151 grass parking spaces.

Among programs hosted at the campus would be culinary, automotive, marine technology, cosmetology, construction, heating and air conditioning, web design and more. The facility would include an auditorium, media center, book store and an open multipurpose/dining room.

MTI’s public safety and health care classes would remain at the Lakewood Ranch campus.

The average age of students at MTI is 34, Wagner said, and the East Manatee location would be close to Interstate 75, making it more central to all of Manatee County.

The new campus will “meet the needs of today and the future work force,” Wagner said.

County commissioners recently approved school site plans for the S.R. 70 site, and pending litigation between the school board and county could soon be “resolved and/or suspended,” according to the executive summary.

Access to the campus would be off S.R. 70 and off Caruso Road and 66th Street East.

Project architect is Fawley Bryant Architects Inc. Construction manager is H.C. Beck Ltd.

Still in the undecided category is what to do with a 10-acre parcel on the corner of S.R. 70 and Caruso Road, that could be used for campus expansion or commercial use in the future.

Also undecided is what happens to the existing 34th Street West property.

James A. Jones Jr., East Manatee Editor, can be contacted at 745-7021.