Several projects from Baytown-area ISD’s $335M bond program underway, despite Covid-19

June 7, 2020

Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, which encompasses Baytown and surrounding areas, is roughly a year into its 2019 bond program, and several projects are underway.

The $335 million bond program, which voters approved in June 2019, includes several renovations and new construction projects. 

One such project is the new Edward Franklin Green Junior School, which broke ground in May. It will be 192,000 square feet over two stories and will house 1,100 students. The new features will include a 700-seat auditorium, two competition gyms, a media center, several computer labs, a band hall, and choir and theater programs. The project will cost $49.6 million and is expected to be completed summer 2021. Texas-based Pfluger Architects, which has a Houston office, is the designer, and the contractor is McKinney, Texas-based Pogue Construction, which has an office in The Woodlands. San Jacinto Elementary School will have a new 102,000-square-foot building that can accommodate 800 students. It will include a media center, gym, multiple computer labs and an outdoor learning center. It will cost $22.5 million and will be completed in December 2021. It’s being designed by Houston-based PBK, and the contractor is Houston-based Marshall Construction. 

Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, the program management company for Goose Creek CISD's bond program, considers the new San Jacinto Elementary one of the most important projects it’s working on. 

“(The old San Jacinto Elementary building) doesn’t fit out needs any longer," said Brenda Garcia, director of facilities, planning and construction and the district. "It’s very special in that it’s a community school. A lot of students walk to that campus. It’s right in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s is difficult in that there’s not sufficient parking, even for the staff that works there.”

Another — yet-unnamed — elementary school will be 102,000 square feet and will house 800 students. The $22.5 million project is expected to break ground in September — a year ahead of schedule. PBK is the designer for that project as well.The Stuart Career Technical Education High School will add on 54,000 square feet of space, nearly doubling the size of the school. The $12.5 million project will expand the school's capacity from 400 students currently to 900 students. The expanded two-story facility will have a new welding lab, vet clinic, floral shop, IT academy and audio/visual academy. The first two phases of the project were completed as part of a previous 2013 bond program. The project is on part three, which will be completed this August, and phase four will be completed next summer. Pfluger Architects is the designer again.

Additionally, the 1,700-seat Robert E. Lee High School Auditorium will be renovated. After breaking ground this month, it's slated to be completed in January 2021. The project is designed by Texas-based architecture firm Huckabee, which has an office in The Woodlands, and La Porte-based Comex Corp. Contractors is handling the renovations. 

Garcia credited the speed of these projects, even amid the coronavirus pandemic, to the district’s quick response when Covid-19 first began to rear its head in Harris County. The district changed suppliers quickly as needed, she noted.

Separately, Houston Independent School District is experiencing delays with at least one of its projects under construction. The new Austin High School's opening date has been pushed back because of furniture shipment delays and manpower shortages caused by Covid-19, KHOU reports.