St. Lucie County, Fla., Breaks Ground on New K–8 School

St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie County, Fla., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new K–8 school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc., for the design of the upcoming Ft. Pierce K–8 School, which comprises six buildings covering 215,000 square feet.

The campus will have the capacity for about 1,800 students, and its purpose is to replace multiple aging schools in the district (St. Lucie Elementary, Lawnwood Elementary, and Dan McCarty Middle School, according to local news) with an updated, unified campus. The project will cost about $70 million and has an estimated completion date of August 2028.

“Breaking ground on the new Ft. Pierce K-8 School marks an exciting step forward for St. Lucie Public Schools and the families it serves,” said Steven G. Siegel, AIA, LEED AP, Spiezle Architectural Group Principal. “This campus is designed to help connect a learning community that will give 1,800 students safe, flexible, and inspiring spaces to learn, grow, and thrive. We are honored to partner with the district on a school that will serve this community for generations.”

According to the news release, amenities are set to include academic spaces, an auditorium, a gym, and other facilities supporting “teaching, learning, recreation, and school community life.”

The district and Spiezle are also working with construction management firm The Morganti Group, Inc.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Big Horn Academy

    Big Horn Academy

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Big Horn Academy has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • California High School Opens New Classroom Building for 7th-, 8th-Graders

    Santa Rosa City Schools in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently announced the completion of a new classroom building for Piner High School. As the campus transitions to a Junior/Senior High School, the facility will play home to the school’s new population of seventh- and eighth-grade students.