PEDRO-- Last night, the Rock Hill Board of Education awarded $1,229439 in contracts to renovate the former Elementary No. 3

building for use as a day care and preschool.

The general contract for $777,000 went to RWS Construction of Columbus.

Jack Walters, of Walters and Associates Architects and Engineers of Dublin said the RWS bid was the lowest of four submitted and was less than the estimated amount.

"The estimate for this was $957,000, the high bid was $910,000. We were concerned about RWS being too low, we talked to them on Friday and they reviewed their bid and went over everything item by item," Walters said. "I think you benefited greatly by putting out bids at a time when contractors and subcontractors are hungry. That's why the bids are so far behind estimates in some cases."

Mechanical Construction Co. of Portsmouth submitted the lowest bid of $108,900 for the plumbing contract.

The electrical contract for $154,495 went to McDaniel Electric, Inc., while Ferguson Brothers Co., of Huntington, W.Va. was awarded the $189,044 mechanical contract.

Walters said work should begin within a week. Superintendent Lloyd Evans said the project should be finished by Aug. 8.

Meanwhile, the former Rock Hill Middle School on State Route 93, will stay in the district's hands a little longer. The board rejected all the bids to buy that property last night. Evans said the none of the bids offered met the board's criteria of two-thirds the appraised price of the property.

The old building was appraised at $491,000.

"It's possible for the board to negotiate a price," Evans said. "We will probably make that effort with the people who have shown interest."