Written by McD

Bishop McDevitt High School Construction Updates

Pre-Qualification of Contractors

The Diocese has pre-qualified ten contractors who will be bidding on the building project for the new school. These ten were chosen out of twenty-six contractors who initially expressed interest in building the new Bishop McDevitt High School campus. The chosen contractors have been notified of their selection and will be receiving bid documents around the 25th of March. The names of the contractors will be released at that time.

Land Purchased for New Bishop McDevitt H.S.

The Diocese of Harrisburg has completed the purchase of the land necessary for the construction of the new Bishop McDevitt High School. Settlement on the 86 acre parcel took place on Friday, June 12 2009. The site, located in Lower Paxton Township on Spring Creek Road near Page Road, is centrally located to the population served by the school. "We are moving forward with the project and to our goal. The purchase of the land is a big step toward fulfilling the promise of a new Bishop McDevitt High School," said Sr. Mary Anne Bednar, principal of the school.

Final approval from Lower Paxton Township Board of Supervisors has been granted for the project. According to Building committee chairperson, John DiSanto, this means that the construction process can now begin. DiSanto added,"The project is now in the design development stage. School officials and department heads are beginning to review the architectural plans and offer suggestions on how areas of the new building can be fine tuned for their specific needs. That's exciting." School and project officials will be spending the next 6 months reviewing the plans getting ready for the next phase which will be the bidding phase followed by the actual construction.

Site work on the estimated $45 million project could begin in November of this year. Construction of the new building could start as early as late spring of 2010. If so, that would allow completion by May of 2012. On this schedule the doors would be open to students in September of 2012.

The new campus will include a 175,000 sq footage world class educational facility, including a 1,200 seat auditorium, 120 seat chapel, 1,000 seat gym, state-of-the-art library and fine arts center. Plans for the campus will include a first class football stadium as well as a variety of other athletic facilities along with ample parking.

Bishop McDevitt High School was founded in 1918 on North Street in Harrisburg. The school has produced approximately 19,000 alumni. It has a long, rich history of offering a well-rounded Catholic Education for the young men and women of the Greater Harrisburg Area.

Coverage of the McDevitt Land Purchase can be found on the following sites:
The Sentinel
WHTM ABC27

Conceptual  Building Sketches

Location Map