EVERETT — The Everett School District expects to move ahead this summer on plans to improve its schools.
Gateway Middle School in Mill Creek is scheduled to get a new roof and ventilation system installed in time for fall classes.
The roof replacement is a $2 million project, but it’s just the first of a list of big projects on tap for the district. Design work has also started on two bigger projects: a new elementary school in the south end of the district and the complete renovation of North Middle School.
All these projects are scheduled to be paid for out of the proceeds of a $149.7 million bond issue that voters approved by just a 2.2 percent margin in April 2016. Some smaller technology projects would come out of an $89.6 million levy passed at the same time, although that money also would pay for some portable classrooms.
Those portables will come in handy once the work on North Middle gets under way.
The renovation — an almost complete tear-down-and-rebuilding — will require about 10 portables starting in the spring of 2018, said Darcy Walker, the district’s Director of Facilities and Planning.
That’s when the main building at North, which houses the administrative offices, cafeteria and some classrooms, will be demolished.
Classrooms will move into the library and the portables, the library will move into a double-length portable, the main office will move into a temporary trailer and the cafeteria will move into the auxiliary gym, Walker said.
Over the spring and summer, the new main building will rise on the site. It will have two stories and an internal courtyard, for a total of 112,000 square feet of space. That’s about 6,000-7,000 square feet more than the current school, he said.
It would be large enough for 825 students. North Middle currently has 720 students.
The new building is scheduled to open in time for the start of classes in the fall of 2019. Then the remaining west school building will be demolished to make way for more parking, and the main gymnasium will get remodeled. If all goes according to plan, the work would be complete by the end of December 2019.
The end result will be a single building where there used to be three. New security procedures will direct all visitors to a single entrance near the main office on the west side. Students also will be able to use a secondary entrance on the east side where buses drop them off.
The estimated cost for the construction alone is about $37.5 million, about $5 million more than the original bond estimate. The total project cost, including design, taxes and fees, goes up to $50 million and will likely fluctuate as the plans are refined, Walker said.
Significant increases in cost came from recent revisions to the state energy code and drainage regulations. In addition, construction costs keep rising.
“I’ve heard some long-term construction consultants who have said this is the hottest market in the greater Seattle area that we’ve ever seen,” Walker said.
The unnamed new elementary school, the district’s 18th, also is expected to open by the fall of 2019 on the southern edge of the district. The district owns land on the north side of 180th Street SE just east of Sunset Road on which it will build the $44 million school.
After that school opens, Woodside Elementary is scheduled to be renovated. Some or all of the students at Woodside would likely move to the new school during the construction period, Walker said.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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