High School Breaks Ground on New Academic Building for $66.8M Construction Project

  • By Matt Jones
  • 06/29/21

School and public officials celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony this week on a new academic building for Clinton High School in Clinton, Iowa. The groundbreaking marks the start of a campus overhaul that will occur in phases, and the full scope of the $66.8-million project is scheduled to be complete by fall 2025. The three-story academic building will house about 75% of the school’s academic classes and is slated to be finished by winter 2022.

Students will continue attending classes in the existing building, adjacent to the construction site, until 2022. Once the new building is ready, the majority of the school’s academic programs will transfer there, and the current academic building will be mostly demolished. Superintendent Gary DeLacy notes that the school’s gym and pool will remain undisturbed. “You’ll have that two-and-a-half-year dance of construction going on, and we’re still conducting business here,” he said.

Once the current academic building is razed, another phase of construction will fill that spot with new buildings that will house a technology education center, a performing and fine arts center, and a commons area. “It will be close to a four-year process to get that all taken care of,” said DeLacy.

The Clinton community passed the project in March 2020, voting for a bond referendum that paid for about $38.7 million of the project. DeLacy commented that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the final cost of the project came in higher than expected, but not by enough to prevent the work from moving forward.

Additional funds are coming from a one-cent sales tax and funds from the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy.

“It’s huge for economic development,” said Mayor Scott Maddaison. “One of the first questions that a site selector or someone coming in is they want to know what the schools look like. It’s just going to be huge to be able to show that off as folks are looking to come to our community.”

The architects for the project are Frevert-Ramsey-Kobes Architects and Engineers, and construction will be done by Tricon Construction of Dubuque.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Texas A&M Breaks Ground on New Space Institute

    The Texas A&M University Space Institute recently broke ground next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, according to a news release. The Nov. 15 groundbreaking ceremony followed the Nov. 7 approval by the Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents of $200 million for the facility’s construction.

  • Case Systems makerspace

    Case Systems Launches Line of K–12 Learning Spaces Installations

    Case Systems recently announced the launch of SALTO, a line of classroom fixtures and installations for K–12 learning spaces like STEM labs, art rooms, and makerspaces, according to a news release. The product line is designed to provide teachers with flexibility and adaptability, enabling them to shift between collaborative and individual learning environments.

  • Minnesota High School Completes $226M Addition, Renovation Project

    White Bear Lake Area High School – North Campus in White Bear Lake, Minn., recently announced the completion of a $226-million renovation and addition project, according to a news release. The district partnered with Kraus-Anderson for the project’s construction, which involved creating a single high-school site for the White Bear Lake Area School District.

  • Electrifying Bus Fleets

    Now is an excellent time for K-12 “yellow” school buses, college campus transportation, and public transit systems to transition to zero-emission electric buses instead of traditional gas or diesel-powered models.