Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

California District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/02/21

Officials from the Del Mar Union School District near San Diego, Calif., gathered at the end of June to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new elementary school. The June 24 event marked the first in-person event for district board and staff since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and future Pacific Sky School students were in attendance with plastic shovels in hand.

“The sky’s the limit for this school, and the district couldn’t be more excited to break ground on our ninth campus,” said DMUSD Superintendent Holly McClurg. “It’s been long planned for the Pacific Highlands Ranch community, and we appreciate the community’s support and patience through this process.”

The new facility will measure in at 67,000 square feet and have a capacity of 480 students aged K–6. Amenities will include 20 classrooms, dedicated STEAM+ spaces, a combination multipurpose room / innovation center, a blacktop play area, and a sports field. OBR Architecture is the architect of record for the project, and construction will be done by the Erickson-Hall Construction Company.

“It feels like yesterday that the school was just an idea on an oversized page of the facilities master plan,” said DMUSD President Erica Halpern. “It really seemed farfetched at the time, since the district didn’t even own the land. It wasn’t even clear that we wanted to own the land or build a school. But our outreach process illuminated what we’ve always known to be a priority: neighborhood schools.”

The new school is currently scheduled to open to students on Aug. 15, 2022.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • New Jersey Day School Opens New Science & Entrepreneurship Building

    Saddle River Day School (SRDS) in Saddle River, N.J., recently celebrated the grand opening of the new Dr. Kristen Walsh Hall of Science & Entrepreneurship, according to a news release. The school partnered with DIG Architecture on the 32,000 square foot facility, completed on a 17-month construction timeline in time for the beginning of the new school year.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • UPenn Announces Completion of New Veterinary Education Facility

    The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Penn., recently finished construction on an 11,800-square-foot veterinary education building, according to a news release. The Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education is the first dedicated classroom facility at the New Bolton Center, a large-animal hospital and campus about 35 miles west of the campus proper.

  • Photo courtesy of Kraus-Anderson

    Concordia College Completes Memorial Auditorium Renovations

    Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., recently completed a $2.5-million renovation project to Memorial Auditorium, a news release reports. The college partnered with Kraus-Anderson for the project’s construction and ICON Architectural Group for its design.