SOLEDAD — Main Street Middle School construction is nearing the half-way mark with the shell of the science, administration and gym buildings almost complete.
“Right now we are nearly 50 percent complete,” said Cesar Vega, chief business officer for the Soledad Unified School District. “We just completed the main building, which is the MPR, the gym. The brick is already done and we are moving forward with the roof.”
The Multipurpose Room, also known as the gym or Building D, will serve as a true multipurpose room that includes the cafeteria, two basketball courts, a drama room, music room, and girls and boys locker rooms. This coming week the roof trellises are going to be put in by a crane.
Buildings A and B, the administration building and the science building are nearly completed with the brick. After the brick is complete, the project will continue with the roof of the two buildings. According to Vega, he expects to be near 50 percent on Buildings A and B sometime in November or December.
The district is also bringing back Building C, which is a classroom building that can house about 400 students. There will be 20 classrooms added.
“Before because of budget constraints we were able to build Buildings A, B and D, that’s what we had in terms of bond money,” said Vega. “We the district, the board of trustees, under the leadership of Superintendent Vanoli and myself, were able to go for a certificate of participation loan that is going to allow us to bring back Building C.”
“It’s going to be a great set of classrooms for our faculty, staff and students to be able to prepare for this whole world of technology and science,” said Tim Vanoli, superintendent of Soledad Unified School District. “For them to have a 21st century building with all that infrastructure in place is just really going to be a great asset to our middle school students. I think they are really going to thrive in the whole world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
Building C has not begun construction yet but will be the fourth building to complete the new Main Street Middle School. As for the current school site, as soon as construction is finished, the majority of the buildings, excluding the library, will be torn down to make room for play fields. There will also be more parking on the exterior of the science building that will allow for teachers, staff, bus drop-offs and parents to park and drop off or pick up their children.
The whole construction of Main Street Middle School is under General Contractor Dilbeck and Sons. Total occupancy for the school once completed is 1,200 students and the expected occupancy date is in fall November or December 2018.
