Alabama Elementary School Breaks Ground on Replacement Facility

Hartselle City Schools in Hartselle, Ala., recently broke ground on a replacement facility for the oldest school in its district. The new Crestline Elementary School will cover about 105,000 square feet, cost about $36 million, and is scheduled for completion in time for the beginning of the 2024–25 school year, according to local news.

The new building will have a capacity of more than 1,000 students in grades PreK–4. The primary purpose of construction was to relieve overcrowding at the existing school; local news reports that the district has grown by more than 500 students over the last ten years. School district leaders said they expect the trend to continue as new neighborhoods with hundreds of homes continue their development.

Amenities in the new elementary school will include 65 classrooms, a separate drop-off line for PreK and special needs students, a special-needs wing featuring a sensory room, gifted education classrooms, and an expanded robotics lab.

Part of the existing Crestline Elementary building will be demolished, and part of it will remain standing as additional classroom space for the district as needed, local news reports.

“Crestline has served our school system, our students, and our community well since its original construction in the 1950s,” said school board member Daxton Maze. “As education needs change and as Hartselle continues to grow, the expanded footprint of the new school will allow us to serve our rising student population in an environment that is conducive to high-quality instruction. The scholastic expectation in Hartselle is excellence, and the new Crestline School will be a visual representation of the community’s desire to provide the best education possible for our kids.”

The school district is partnering with Davis Architects for the building’s design and with Bailey-Harris Construction Co. for the building’s construction.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • North Carolina District Completes New Elementary School

    The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) in Holly Springs, N.C., recently announced that construction on a new elementary school has finished, according to a news release. Rex Road Elementary School measures in at 133,000 square feet and is the fifteenth school that general contractor Balfour Beatty has completed for the district.

  • Kimball International Releases Curated Design Support Program

    Commercial furnishings company Kimball International recently announced the launch of a new end-to-end design support program, DesignSuite. According to a news release, its goal is to guide architecture & design professionals and dealer partners through the process from vision to specification.

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part I

    We asked, you answered, and the results are in! Last year, we put out a call for submissions to collect our readership’s opinion on trends and predictions for K–12 and higher education facilities in 2026.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.

Digital Edition