Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

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

  • Academy of Classical Education Breaks Ground in Louisiana

    Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) recently announced the groundbreaking of a new public charter school in Covington, La., according to a news release. The Academy of Classical Education at Covington will enroll students in grades K–8 and is scheduled for completion in August 2026, just in time for the new school year.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • 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.

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.