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Local construction companies are seeing more projects from K-12 schools.
One of the more notable ones is Irvine High School (IHS), which spent $35 million on a new performing arts center.
IHS, serving nearly 2,000 students, opened the facility on Feb. 7 after breaking ground in January of 2023. The school is located near Culver Avenue and the Santa Ana (5) Freeway.
The new 25,000-square-foot center features a 650-seat main theater, a black box theater, scene shop, dressing rooms and a modern lobby.
The project’s construction and architecture teams were Anaheim-based C.W. Driver Companies and Ruhnau Clarke Architects in Riverside. This is the fourth project C.W. Driver has worked on for Irvine Unified School District (IUSD).
“This is really an impressive theater,” Project Executive Tom Jones at C.W. Driver told the Business Journal. “I’ve never seen a high school theater done to this quality and scale.”
Ballot Measure E
The theater is equipped with advanced sound, lighting and rigging systems.
“It’s very high-end finishes,” Jones said.
C.W. Driver demolished the previous theater and reconfigured the school’s parking lot to make room for the center.
It was funded by a ballot measure passed in 2016 aimed at modernizing aging schools, according to Kelvin Okino, executive director of facilities and construction at IUSD.
“The District has been intentional n ensuring that Measure E dollars benefit students promptly,” Okino told the Business Journal.
About 60% of Orange County residents voted in favor of IUSD issuing $319 million in bonds to improve classrooms, science labs and other facilities at older schools to “meet the same academic and safety standards as newer schools.”
IUSD said that the measure will provide a maximum bond issuance of $319 million for facility upgrades at 28 of the district’s schools, including IHS, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
All Measure E projects are expected to be completed by 2030, according to Okino.
C.W. Sees ‘Hot Market’ in Education
C.W. Driver has worked on other similar projects for IUSD.
In 2021, it completed a $23 million performing arts complex at neighboring Woodbridge High School.
The 36,000-square-foot facility was also made possible by the same ballot measure that funded IHS’ performing arts center.
Jones said that education has been a “hot market” for the construction firm.
C.W. Driver in 2022 completed a new K-8 school at the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine for $52.5 million.
The Solis Park School campus consists of seven buildings and spans 108,000 square feet. It features an innovation lab for engineering, robotics and video production, in addition to a design lab, special education “hub,” indoor gymnasium and other outdoor learning spaces.
C.W. Driver is currently working on modernization projects at Laguna Beach High School, and other school districts in Chino Valley, Santa Monica-Malibu, Menifee and San Diego.
Jones said that they’re also seeing a lot of library renovations in OC, including renovations of Aliso Viejo Library and Dana Point Library.
C.W. Driver was ranked as the 10th largest construction firm in the region last year.