Oh, we're halfway there: New Cuyahoga Falls 6-12 school campus taking shape

One of the most significant changes for the Cuyahoga Falls community in decades is coming into sharper focus, with construction reaching a relative midpoint on the city school district's new school for grades 6-12.

Construction of the campus, which is being constructed on the site of the former Newberry Elementary School at 13th Street and Portage Trail, has been underway for nearly a year-and-a-half. The school district is building a 365,000-square-foot building with a performing arts center and new multi-use athletic stadium.

Here's what we know about the progress toward building the new school, as well as how the city plans to address neighborhood concerns about an increase in traffic:

Are project deadlines, budget on target?

The $112.8 million project is running on time and is expected to be completed in late 2025, with students moving in beginning in January 2026. Bolich Middle School will be demolished in the spring and summer of 2026 to make way for the new performing center's parking lot.

Christine Stewart, the coordinator of community relations for Cuyahoga Falls School District, said there were cost overages for the project that were expected and have been managed.

"After COVID, all construction costs skyrocketed due to supply-chain issues, but during the design process the school district made choices to compensate for the overages without sacrificing the quality," Stewart said. "We were able to go back to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and we were able to secure a little over $6 million dollars in funding to help offset those increasing costs due to the pandemic."

In April 2023 the district issued certificates of participation for approximately $20 million to cover the costs of the remaining overages.

How will Cuyahoga Falls mitigate traffic concerns?

A traffic study was conducted by engineers from TDA, the project architects. The engineers identified traffic patterns and volume around the time of school arrival and dismissal, and designed the building based on results of the traffic study.

"The traffic study then had to be reviewed and approved by the city planning commission and all the city engineers," Stewart said. "The design of the building would not have been able to proceed without their approval, [they] needed to make sure the area could handle what the anticipated traffic needs would be."

Stewart noted buses dropping and picking up students will no longer be on the street, causing traffic delays. There will be a specific bus lane that is built in for the pick up and the drop off areas, a driveway that goes behind the campus for the busses to ease traffic congestion as well as a new turn lane installed on Portage Trail. This turn lane should take a lot of traffic off of the streets.

Stewart also noted the school district will offer busing to the high school students in the area, resulting in less car traffic in the area due to these students taking the bus to and from the school building.

How did this project come together?

Master planning for the project began in 2015 and lasted until 2018. Internal stakeholders from the school district as well as external community stakeholders held discussions about what the new middle and high school campus needed and what it would look like.

"After the design process completed we went to the community and we passed a bond in the fall of 2019 and then COVID happened in 2020 and things came to a screeching halt," Stewart said. "Things kicked back up in 2021 when we finalized any last minute design details and we broke ground in the fall of 2022."

Cuyahoga Falls' City Council approved the proposal for the new school's construction in September 2022, and groundbreaking began a few weeks later.

What will become of the current Falls high school building?

Nothing has been decided yet, Stewart said, but the district is weighing its options for the future of the existing Cuyahoga Falls High School.

"We're looking at a variety of options; currently there's a committee that is reviewing all of the district facilities that we have and what it's going to look like in the future, and the high school hasn't been determined yet, but we have considered selling the building," she said. "We've had people who have shown an interest in purchasing the building and the property but nothing has been determined."

Fall 2025 will be the last academic term that students will use the current high school. The site could, however, host some events in 2026 based on the need for certain programs.

The future of Roberts Middle School is also currently up for discussion.

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter, @athompsonABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cuyahoga Falls' new 6-12 school on track to be completed in late 2025