A local high school is about to undergo nearly a complete replacement along with a much-needed expansion. The City Menus recently discovered plans for the demolition and reconstruction of a large portion of Bremen High School. According to Dr. David Hicks, Superintendent of Bremen City Schools, “The portion of Bremen High School being replaced is approximately 70 years old. It is amazing that the school has held up so well for that many years. It was well built and well maintained through the years.”
Plans call for an existing 45,200 square feet of the high school to be completely demolished and replaced by a new 66,000 square-foot building. The project is expected to take approximately a year and a half to two years with demolition beginning in late May. All phases of the project are expected to be completed at the same time.
Dr. Hicks said the biggest goal for the project is to provide nice facilities for the students without going over the top. “We pride ourselves on providing nice facilities for our deserving students. When we plan new structures, we work hard to design and build a nice facility that is not extravagant and over the top. I believe we are accomplishing that with this new building. It will be a very nice building but we’ve worked hard to design a building that is reasonable. We have the absolute best students, staff, parents, and community, and we believe this initiative will be something everyone can take pride in and enjoy.”
To address classroom space for the duration of the project, a hall known as “Bottom Hall” will be kept while the new building is being constructed. Once that is complete, the hall will be torn down and developed into a commons area that can eventually be used for future construction if needed. Additionally, there will also be a couple of mobile units on the property for classroom use until the entire project is completed.
Dr. Hicks says that there are two main reasons for the project: growth in numbers of students and the age of the existing building. “We are growing in terms of students, so it will help address that need, but primarily the age of the building was the driving force behind the decision to address the high school campus. Again, most schools don’t last 70 years, so we are blessed to have one that did. However, after so many years, we are seeing issues with the building that would require extensive work to fix. It is not economically feasible to pour money into a 70-year- old structure. Our hope is that we are building a school that will last another 70 years.”
For more renderings of the project, please check out the gallery below.
