Design of new Grand Junction High School nearing completion

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - This month, the school board received an update on the design of the new Grand Junction High School. The project has finished the design development phase and has entered into the final design phase called ‘construction documents.’ A site plan will be submitted to the city next month.

“That’s where we finalize all the drawings and get all the instructions for the contractor to build the building drawn in our drawings,” said Blythe Group Director of Architecture Peter Icenogle.

Construction on the building itself is scheduled to start in June, that’s when they’ll start working on the foundation. However some utility work has already begun.

“The initial construction has started already just recently on some of the utility connections to bring utilities to the site that will feed the new building.”

The building will be on the northeast side of the current campus, where the current baseball field is. This so the existing track and football fields can remain.

The south end of the building will feature school offices; a performing arts center that can seat 1,467 people; a gym that can seat 1,700 or more people, a wrestling room, and an auxiliary gym; locker rooms and a weight room; a kitchen; a commons area that will double as a cafeteria; a media center; a community room; and counseling offices.

“The public use spaces such as the gym and auditorium are at the south end of the building, and the north end where most of the academics spaces are can be secured independently allowing after hours use by all the various entities.”

The north end of the building is designated for three stories of classrooms, teacher offices, and project spaces for student collaboration. The other end will be two stories. The entire school will be around 250 thousand square feet.

“The main entrance is still going to face west just like the existing entrance does. The main parking lot will be on the west still and the main approach to the building will be on the west but we will have a new separate entrance from the bus loop.”

This will allow pickup and drop-off to be from the south as well.

As far as the look of the new building, there’s a modern twist. It will be built with brick and masonry with a little bit of metal panel. This was chosen because it will last a long time with low maintenance.

A tentative groundbreaking ceremony is set for June 8 and the new building is scheduled for completion by August 2024.

When the old school is empty they will then demolish it and build the new sports fields and parking lots where the current high school stands now. They’re aiming for a total completion date of Spring 2025.

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