Durango School District 9-R says that the construction of the Impact Career Development Center at Durango High School will not impact student or staff parking when school starts on Aug. 22.
The $10 million building is expected to be finished by late fall or early 2024. The 12,000-square-foot structure was funded through Bond Issue 4A, which allocated $90 million to Durango School District 9-R for facility upgrades, and was designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects.
The new structure will house all of the school’s career in technical education classes, which the district has been emphasizing to develop a strong workforce pipeline for the Southwest Colorado region.
“Students and staff will be able to park at the school while construction is completed. The new north parking lot will be open at the start of the year, as well as the main lot for student parking. The north lot is now staff parking and a loop for drop off and pick up,” said 9-R spokeswoman Karla Sluis.
The north lot was built off to the left of where the original DHS drop-off was. Parents can now turn left as they approach the original drop-off area, which will direct them to the north lot where there is a new loop with additional parking.
The loop was designed to make up for a building pathway that was constructed in place of the original loop and to rid congestion created by the previous loop, which often saw cars spilling onto Main Avenue during pickup time.
The high school underwent additional construction this summer to add six total parking spots to the school’s parking lot near Main Avenue. In all, 43 parking spots were lost as a result of the Impact Career Development Center building construction. To offset that, the school district renovated the parking lot, which includes adding a new parent drop-off space for a total of 49 new parking spaces.
The district expects the project to be done in the next six months, but the pace of construction will depend on different variables, including weather, delivery of materials and workforce availability in the Durango area.
“Work is progressing quickly, and it is likely that we will have a soft opening for staff and students this fall, with a grand opening to the public in January,” Sluis said.
The building will feature the use of natural light through skylights. It will be two stories with a makerspace, breakout rooms and a pitch room upstairs. The bottom floor will include a common area, a cafe and rooms for students to collaborate. It will also be open for community after school hours to lease for events. The district is also developing a lease structure and regulations for the building.
Sluis said the building design hasn’t changed much throughout the construction process, and there have been some slight tweaks made such as adding hydroponic piping to prevent shaded areas outside of the building from icing over during winter months.
This was partially inspired by last winter’s heavy storms, in which the district experienced six snow days and wanted to ensure walkways near the building were safe.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
