Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

BELLINGHAM — Within the next few weeks, residents in the Bellingham School District will start to see construction on at least one of the projects funded by the $67 million bond passed last year.Tiger Construction will begin building the new elementary school in the 2100 block of Yew Street Road by the end of the month, said Ron Cowan, assistant superintendent of business and operations. The school board awarded the Everson-based company the $11.4 million contract last month.

But the 14th elementary school, scheduled to open for the 2008-09 school year, is only the first of many bond-funded projects planned in the next few years.

Aldrich Road Elementary: Planning for the new elementary school is on schedule, but no construction will start for about a year. The school board viewed design plans over the past school year and the district will begin accepting construction bids in the spring, Cowan said.

The school is scheduled to open for the 2009-10 school year.

Shuksan Middle School: The middle school is scheduled to be rebuilt at the same time as the Aldrich Road school construction, Cowan said. Plans call for the new school to be built on existing sports fields while students are still in the old building, which turned 50 years old this year.

Students are expected to move to the new building for the 2009-10 school year.

Seismic upgrades: The district will be upgrading the earthquake safety of five historic buildings, starting this summer. In 2005, engineers examined and found problems at five district buildings: Columbia, Larrabee and Lowell elementary schools, Whatcom Middle School and the Roeder Administration Building.

The first upgrade involves Columbia Elementary, where crews will stabilize the play shed in the back of the school, Cowan said.

Upgrades to Lowell are scheduled for the 2008-09 school year and will require the school to close for the year.

Roeder is slated for the 2009-10 school year, during which time staff likely will be moved to the old Shuksan building.

But this schedule could change as construction moves forward, Cowan said.

“Yew Street needs to be finished before we can do Lowell, and Shuksan needs to be finished and students moved to the new school before we do Roeder, and the other schools — Whatcom and Larrabee — will probably be done before Roeder,” Cowan said. “We’re working with engineers to really look at the schedule in a little more detail.”  Via Bellingham Herald.