The long-awaited State College High School project bid Wednesday afternoon and came in under Massaro CM Services’ budget at $116,996,100. Lobar Construction from Mechanicsburg was the low general at $70,755,000. Most of the low bidders were from the Lancaster/Harrisburg area with only Bob Biter Electric as a local contractor that was a low bidder. Few Pittsburgh area firms bid the job and those bids were 10% or more above the low bid. See the full results.

The project is likely to be the biggest K-12 project in the state for a while and the bidding showed that. Bidding on Thomas Jefferson High School will present an interesting counterpoint to see how aggressively the school builders bid that $76.3 million job in mid-January.

Also in State College, Clayco has the first phase of the $173 million East Residence Halls renovation and new North Residence Hall out to bid, due Dec. 22. View details at the PBX.

In contracting news, Continental Building Systems was awarded the $8.5 million Fairfield Inn & Suites at McCandless Crossing. DGA Construction started work on the $20 million, 149-unit Cosmopolitan Apartments by Ross Park Mall. There is no confirmation from any parties involved but it’s reported that the Mascaro/Trumbull Energy Services/PJ Dick team will build the 900+-car parking garage at the Monaca cracker, should the project proceed.

Rumors about the cracker continue to circulate. Within the past three days I’ve been told that announcement will be made Dec. 10, Dec. 14 and at least 90 days from now. Shell’s word on progress is that evaluation continues with no schedule for an announcement. The mystery continues.

The Master Builders’ announced the nominees for its 2015 Building Excellence Awards at an event on Nov. 18. You can read about the projects here. Winners will be announced at the Feb. 25 Evening of Excellence.