Changes coming to Mooresville High School

Alford Realty Group has learned of some important upcoming changes to Mooresville High School and wanted to share them with you.

According to an article in the Mooresville Tribune Mooresville Graded School District has authorized the purchase of six homes near the high school to allow for their expansion plans of Mooresville High School. The school district plans to demolish the homes and use the land for parking at the expanded school. The houses are side-by-side on Cabarrus Avenue between Magnolia St. and Blue Devil Blvd. Directly behind them is the current MHS baseball field, where the school plans to build it’s new performance arts and athletics center. According to MGSD spokesperson Tanae McLean the district hopes to have the purchases completed by the end of this month (February, 2015).

With all of the expected growth in Mooresville Graded School District, the additional student and public parking is imperative. There are currently almost 1,800 students at Mooresville High School and the district officials expect that within the next 10 years that number will grow to 2,500.
A new baseball stadium will be built where the current Magnolia Street parking lot of the Mooresville High School Magnolia Annex is and the new parking lot will also help compensate for the loss of the current parking lot.
A construction update was given to the board of education members last Tuesday, offering a more definitive timeline and site renderings of the expansion plans. This was kicked into high gear after the countywide education bonds were approved by the voters in November.

“We’ve been asked by many what the plans are and what’s going on,” Todd Black, director of operations for the school district told the board. “Now we finally have an action plan we can take to the public, but I want to remind everyone that this is all tentative, and we expect to make changes almost daily. The largest addition to this will be the new auditorium and performance arts center.”

Phase 1 of the construction is tentatively set to begin in May, with the demolition of the existing baseball field behind MHS. The new baseball stadium is targeted for an April 2016 opening, across Magnolia Street at Edgemoor Drive.

The existing tennis courts there will be removed, and Edwards said the district is working with the town to build a tennis center at nearby Edgemoor Park that would be shared.

Black said the new baseball field will mirror that of a professional baseball complex with dugouts situated below stadium seating. A portion of the outfield will also double as a practice football field.

He said Moor Park on South Broad Street will be utilized for baseball while construction continues on the new MHS facility.

Phase 2 of the $40 million MHS project should begin September, with construction of the performance arts and athletic center. A tentative completion date is February 2017.

The first floor of new athletic complex will house three art classrooms, a rec/fitness room, three full-sized basketball courts, concessions, locker rooms and dressing rooms for PE, and a health/sports medicine center and treatment area.

Black said the basketball courts will be a jointly used facility with the town of Mooresville. There is an option for large curtains to come down on either side of the courts to allow for multiple games to be played at the same time.

On the second floor of the new building, 15 will be placed above the dressing rooms, and skywalks are planned connect the new facility to the main high school building to reduce congestion during class change.

The performance arts center will have a main entrance from Magnolia Street, and will feature a 15,400-square-foot auditorium with a 5,000-square-foot stage and orchestra area.

The auditorium will tier upward from the stage to the back of the room with two wings veering to the left and right. The wings can be closed off to serve as lecture areas or additional performance rooms.

Behind the auditorium will be classroom space for the band, drama and choral departments, allowing for better access to get ready and enter the stage from behind, Black said.

Art classrooms will have access to an outdoor patio area for teachers to take their students outdoors when class projects require it.

All art classes currently held at the N.F Woods campus will move to the new building.

Phase 3 of the project will consist of renovations and retrofitting of the existing main campus building and the Magnolia Annex, Black said. Those renovations are also expected to begin in September and should be completed by June 2017.

The work will include demolition of the existing auditorium to allow for a new parking area, re-centering of the main entrance to MHS, and the creation of new offices, conference rooms, and a teacher center.

That phase will also eliminate the cafeteria at the annex – which is the former Mooresville Middle School – while the current cafeteria in main building will be expanded. Old athletic locker rooms on the lower level of the annex will become classrooms for current N.F. Woods programs.

Above, the old MMS gymnasium will be turned into eight classrooms, a resource room, and an activity space in the middle for group projects.

Also, the MHS bus drop-off and pick-up site will move from Blue Devil Boulevard to the rear of the Magnolia Annex, relieving significant congestion along Center Avenue, Black said.

The second floor annex renovations include turning the current cafeteria space into classrooms, and moving additional Woods course to the annex. Health occupations would also receive a retrofit to its classroom space

The first floor of the annex would now house wrestling, a new football locker room and coaches office, additional classrooms, and a weight room, as well as the Carpentry and HVAC departments.

Phase 4 will see the relocation of the technology department, maintenance, child nutrition and transportation aspects from Woods to the annex.

“We’ll be taking lots of precautions to ensure the safety of our students during this project, and doing background checks on those who will have access to the campus during construction and renovations,” Black told board members.

Added Edwards, “This is a working document, and a massive project, and probably one of the biggest projects in MGSD history. There are lots of moving parts.”

excerpts taken from article in:
Mooresville Tribune
by Jessica Osborne

Lisa Alford