One of the final major hurdles for the construction of the new Hobbton High School was cleared Monday night after the Sampson County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the project’s greatest maximum price (GMP), paving the way for construction to move forward on the long-awaited campus.
The vote, taken during the board’s July 13 meeting, marks another significant milestone in a project that has been years in the making. Sampson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jamie King presented the GMP to commissioners, outlining the project’s costs, funding sources and the next steps before construction begins.
“The cost of the building will be about $55 million,” King told commissioners while walking them through the financial breakdown. “With that is also about $7.8 million of alternates.”
Those alternates include the football stadium, track, concession stand, restrooms, baseball and softball fields, and bleachers. Combined, the estimated construction cost totals approximately $63 million.
When technology, furniture, permanent fees, fire storage tanks, specialty inspections and other project-related expenses are included, the overall project reaches approximately $73.3 million.
Funding for the project comes from several sources. The largest portion is a $62 million state Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund grant. Sampson County commissioners previously committed more than $4.2 million as the required local match, while the Sampson County Board of Education is contributing $6.5 million from its fund balance. Roughly $600,000 in additional money will come from School Nutrition funds to purchase cafeteria equipment.
King noted the project is currently projected to finish approximately $150,000 under budget.
“The only thing that is not included in this GMP price is the greenhouse and animal science facility,” he added.
To address that, school officials are requesting an additional $2 million from the county’s capital reserve fund. Those funds would allow the district to construct a modern agricultural education complex that reflects Sampson County’s agricultural roots.
“We’re an agricultural community in an agricultural county,” King emphasized. “I’ve been big on our designers and our builder that we can’t teach a kid how to grow five rows of corn. No one can live off that. We have to teach them how to grow on a farm, on a full production facility.”
He described the vision as a modern greenhouse and updated animal science facility designed to mirror real-world agricultural operations rather than smaller instructional models.
Commissioners also discussed the importance of ensuring the new campus includes complete athletic facilities.
King credited construction manager T.A. Loving and architecture firm SfL+a Architects with helping bring the project in below earlier estimates, making those amenities possible.
“There was some worry originally that we did not have the funding to do all of that,” he recalled. “But there’s been a lot of hard work by T.A. Loving and SfL+a to really get us at a lower budget point so that we can include athletic facilities, because none of us want to have a brand-new high school and kids are walking across the street to go to athletic games.”
Commissioners praised both the design and the progress of the project.
“I think it’s going to be one of the state-of-the-art schools in this part of the country,” Commissioner Lethia Lee observed after reviewing the plans.
“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity,” she added.
King shared that one of the most rewarding aspects of the design process has been hearing feedback from the Hobbton community.
“We heard people saying, ‘We’re getting something better than Midway or Union,’” he recounted. “That’s not a downplay of those schools, but I think there was a sense they were just going to get another version of those schools placed on their site. We spent the time to design something different, and I think the community feels like we’re trying to give them what they need and what they want.”
The discussion also turned toward the future of the current Hobbton High School campus once students move into the new building.
King indicated no final decisions have been made regarding the existing school, despite previous agreements that called for its demolition. He explained the district is exploring several possibilities, including preserving portions of the campus for community use, athletic tournaments, housing or other economic development opportunities.
“I would love to see us make it into something for the community,” King said. “If we could preserve parts of it, like the auditorium, athletic facilities or CTE wing, it could become an asset. But none of those ideas have been fleshed out yet.”
He acknowledged, however, that maintaining an unused school would likely cost between $200,000 and $300,000 annually, creating financial challenges for the district.
“If we’re going to tear down a building, we need to make sure it’s the right building,” King stated. “We don’t want to just tear it down and have nothing.”
Following the discussion, commissioners unanimously approved the Greatest Maximum Price contract for the new Hobbton High School and also unanimously approved the requested $2 million appropriation from the county’s capital reserve fund for the greenhouse and animal science facility.
With the approvals in place, one of the project’s final major administrative steps has been completed, allowing Sampson County Schools to move closer to breaking ground on a campus that local leaders say will serve students and the Hobbton community for generations to come.