Orlando-based Williams Company Building Division broke ground on the currently unnamed school, which was designed by Baker Barrios Architects of Orlando and HKS Architects, on April 26. The design phase kicked off in January 2015 and was completed in November 2015. The project’s total budget is $60.7 million. The school is slated for completion in summer 2017 and is set to open in fall 2017.

Prior to the ground breaking, the site was comprised of multiple vacant lots and shuttered industrial, residential and office structures. When complete, the campus will serve up to 1,211 students across nearly 13 acres and 190,526 square feet. The school will encompass a gymnasium, cafetorium, media center, outdoor play areas including a tot lot, hard courts, a running track and a multi-story parking structure. Also included will be a preschool facility, and on-site branch of the Boys and Girls Club and a medical clinic to serve both students and their families.

The school will provide a quality preschool program for two to three-year-old children funded the Rosen Foundation. The University of Central Florida (UCF) and Valencia College will also develop a teacher internship program for their education students in conjunction with the school.

In addition to the kindergarten through middle-school curriculum, the on-site Boys & Girls Club program for six- to 18-year-olds will provide students with after-school youth development programs. “This partnership with OCPS, the Hughes family, our donors, and the funding community will provide great futures for thousands of youth in the area who may never have had the opportunity to reach their full potential,” said Gary Cain, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, in a statement. “Evidence clearly demonstrates that when children have a safe place like a Boys & Girls Club, their academics improve, they avoid risky behaviors, and they grow up to become productive and caring citizens. We’re excited about this partnership and look forward to this new club positively impacting young lives for years to come.”

Additionally, OCPS and the City of Orlando are discussing other services that could be provided to community members on-site after school hours. “We are grateful to the community for making this a reality,” said Dr. Barbara Jenkins, OCPS superintendent, in a statement. “From the voters who approved the half-cent sales tax to build this school, to the community philanthropists whose donations will provide valuable experiences on this campus, we are so lucky to live in a community that truly values and supports public education.”

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Working with a small site forced the design team to be particularly creative in developing and maximizing a functional program. “It’s a very dynamic design, in which many functions are incorporated,” said Urbahn Architect’s principal Marty Stein, AIA, in a statement. Stein originally spearheaded the design of the original BelovED K-5 school and its recent addition, and is now leading the design of the middle school.

Upon completion, the new middle school will offer 15 general classrooms, four half-classrooms, two science rooms, two art rooms and a music room. A cafetorium — a combination cafeteria and auditorium space — with a warming kitchen, a gymnasium with a mezzanine, a media center/library, administrative offices, and a large sub-dividable multipurpose room to be used for events and testing will also be included. In addition, the school will include a 31-space parking lot and outdoor assembly and recreation space.

The site is located within a FEMA-designated flood zone, which added another level of complexity to the project. As such, Urbahn Architects Associate and Project Manager Emmanuel Perez, AIA, LEED AP, said in a statement that the design team is specifying all programmed space and critical systems on the second through fourth floors. “The ground level is dedicated to parking, building access and recreation. The upper floors are structurally cantilevered above the parking lot,” he added.

Due to the low-bearing soil at the site, the foundation system will consist of subterranean concrete piles and pile caps, which will support the new school’s structural steel frame, according to a statement by Urbahn Architects.

Friends of the BelovED Charter School, a non-profit organization established to support the development of BeloveED Community Charter School and other charter schools, is the project’s developer. The organization is expected to obtain a mortgage and construction financing of $12 million from New Jersey Community Capital, according to Bret Schundler, a former mayor of Jersey City and former commissioner of education for the State of New Jersey.

Schundler assisted the local community in establishing the original BelovED Community Charter School, which opened in 2012 across the street from the new middle school site. He currently serves as chairman of the BelovED Community Charter School Foundation. BelovED, which currently serves 720 students, is named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of the “Beloved Community.”
 

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