Sean C. Morgan
Demolition at Sweet Home High School is nearly finished with construction well underway on the new college facility.
John Hyland Construction, Inc., started work on the Linn-Benton Community College Sweet Home Center building on Sept. 10, with just a little demolition left toward the west end of the project. Sweet Home Center will move into the new building next school year. It will be attached to the high school at the east end between the auditorium and the main school in the old courtyard.
The work there is just the outer shell, Mike Mueller, senior project manager, said. Completion of that part of the project will come as the rest of the high school project is phased in.
Hyland Construction will drop back from work on the new center and begin framing the new high school building.
Construction crews will work eastward raising the outer shell of the building till about the halfway point when a roofer will be called in to begin work at Sweet Home Center, working east behind construction crews.
At a point near the middle of the new building, Hyland will begin construction from the west end of the new building toward the middle section.
“The weather’s been great,” Mueller said. “We’re pretty much where we thought we’d be.”
That all depends on the unexpected though, Mueller said. Asbestos removal took longer than planned with the discovery of additional asbestos materials that needed to be removed, and construction crews have found more flooring and pipes under flooring they remove.
The four classrooms along the south hallway have been remodeled. That section will get new lockers next summer, Mueller said. Some mechanical work has been completed in the eastern hallway, but crews will have cosmetic work and heating and ventilation work during winter and spring breaks.
Students are using both hallways along with the classrooms.
Construction crews have been working around students occasionally, Mueller said. “The kids haven’t been a problem. The School District’s been good to work with.”
The next step past the LBCC center is blocking in the restrooms adjacent to it, Mueller said.
The new building will probably be done around June, Mueller said. After that, Hyland will still have all of the parking lots and bus routes to complete. The construction company’s staging area will be torn up and paved for student parking.
Hyland Construction is in charge of the $7 million high school reconstruction project. The project is part of an $18.6 million bond approved by Sweet Home area voters two years ago.
The project includes the demolition of the administrative offices, the Career Center, counseling, the cafeteria, the main gym and east and north hallway.
A new library will be built about where the main gym was located. A couple of new high-tech classrooms will be attached to the library.
On the west end will be a commons with the student store and cafeteria. Administrative offices will flank a central entryway.
On the east end of the north hall, is the new LBCC Sweet Home Center.
The Gateway credit retrieval program is sharing space with the Career Center in a modular building moved from Hawthorne Elementary. Health classes are held in the old drafting area.
The high school has room for all but one teacher, who floats to different classrooms in different periods.