Lake County Schools Prepare for $65M in New Facilities

The five-year capital improvement plan for Lake County Schools, located in Tavares, Fla., includes $65 million in new and expanded schools, as well as $106.7 million in school renovation and modernization work. The plan covers planned projects between 2021 and 2025.

Future projects include a K–8 Minneola Area Relief school, set to cost $35 million and have a capacity of 1,200; an expansion to Villages Elementary School costing $6 million; an expansion to Windy Hill Middle School costing $12 million; and an unnamed, $11.89-million capacity project for South Lake High School.

Construction projects scheduled for completion this year include the new Lake Pointe Academy, a K–8 school covering 175,000 square feet and costing $33.8 million, set to open this fall; and expansions to Lake Minneola High School of 18 new classrooms and capacity for an additional 480 students.

Further information on the progress of these projects is available here.

The American Institute of Architects project that education construction spending (for K–12 and higher ed both) is set to drop 3.9% in 2021 but increase by 2.7% in 2022.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Philadelphia Middle School Facility Earns LEED Gold Certification

    The Alternative Middle Years (AMY) at James Martin Middle School in Philadelphia, Penn., recently received a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to a news release. The School District of Pennsylvania partnered with KSS Architects on the project.

  • Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, OR

    Preserving Legacy, Designing for the Future

    As historic academic buildings age, institutions face a difficult decision: preserve and adapt or demolish and rebuild. How do we honor the legacy of these spaces while adapting them to meet the needs of modern learners?