Construction of Stapleton’s third school will begin in June and the building expected to solve overcrowding in the neighborhood’s other elementaries should open in August 2011.
The new pre-K through eighth grade school will serve about 900 students. It will be located on a 10-acre plot of land at East 35th Avenue and Syracuse Street.
The facility is in high demand because the neighborhood’s other two schools are already nearly at capacity and a baby boom is expected to bring even more children into the district.
The $19 million new school is being funded through a partnership with the district; the City and County of Denver; and Forest City, Stapleton’s development company.
The financing agreement had been difficult to arrange in the down economy because Stapleton’s schools — like other public improvements in the neighborhood — are supposed to be funded by a tax-increment financing mechanism that counts on future tax gains to pay for current improvements.
However, DPS says it has extra money from the $454 million, 2008 bond that is coming in under budget and ahead of schedule — providing the district an additional $40 million to spend on other projects, including the Stapleton school.
The district will effectively use the extra bond money as a loan to help build the school with repayment expected as the economy improves, said Superintendent Tom Boasberg.
“Because of the market and strong fiscal management, we’re going to be able to complete additional vitally needed projects,” Boasberg said. “One of these projects is the third Stapleton school.”
