Clover School District Prepares for Construction

July 9, 2014 1778 Views Eastern U.S., Harvard University, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Tozzer Anthropology Building, Tozzer Library

CLOVER, S.C. — Builders, renovators and planners are working through the summer to finish up upgrade projects in the Clover School District in time to start work on the five larger projects approved by voters in March as part of the $67 million bond referendum, which will pay part of the $99 million construction plan.

The summer upgrades at the district’s maintenance facility will be complete by August, and Bethel Elementary School is getting new windows and a larger nurse station, reported the Lake Wylie Pilot. Plus, the district transportation center is also undergoing a $1.2 million renovation that includes a new driveway.

Finishing up these projects will allow the district to move its focus to construction on the five larger projects. The new projects will include a new elementary school, middle school, field replacements at various schools and a new aquatic center as well as the conversion of the current Clover Middle School into a ninth grade academy for the high school.

The $2.5 million field replacement project at Clover High School’s Memorial Stadium is already underway. The stadium will be renovated with synthetic turf, which will also be installed at three other district fields. The middle school field being replaced required additional land clearing, and the dirt from the transportation center project is being used in the fields.

Construction is also underway on some of the new schools, too. A construction entrance and slit fences have been put up for the $40 million middle school replacement project. Timber has been removed to make way for the $25 million elementary school project. Plus, staff will begin touring YMCA facilities this week to spark ideas for the $14 million aquatics center. Construction on the center should start in February, with a scheduled completion in spring 2016.

The ninth grade academy will likely be the last project to be completed. Meetings on the $10 million building will begin this fall. The building will still be used as a school for the coming year, so it won’t be transitioned until after the new middle school replacement project is completed in 2016. As such, the academy is scheduled to open in August 2017.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Cumming is serving as the construction manager on the project.