Innovative Babcock High School, field house on track to welcome students for 2022-23 academic year
The walls of the two-story façade in Babcock Ranch have been raised and construction continues on Babcock High School, a public charter school that is on schedule to welcome students within the next seven months.
“There’s much to accomplish but we’re still tracking to open this new and innovative high school this coming August,” says Bill Moore, director of construction and development for Kitson & Partners, the developer of Babcock Ranch.
Construction of the high school and neighboring field house started last summer on Babcock Ranch’s education campus, home to the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Babcock Neighborhood School, a Charlotte County public charter school. The walls of both buildings were recently erected on the 1.65-acre site.
“Over the next months, residents will be able to see the actuality and evolution of the campus design intent,” Moore says.
The 43,000-square-foot state-of-the-art secondary school will offer 26 classrooms, science labs, multiple assembly areas, administrative offices and a media room. Like the neighborhood school, Babcock High School will focus on a project-based learning curriculum centered on innovative, best-in-class education concepts with an emphasis on the solar-powered town’s commitment to environmental standards.
As part of the high school and field house project, Kitson & Partners is also building recreational facilities, which include multi-purpose fields, a baseball diamond and a softball field with trails connecting to Jack Peeples Park just north of the new campus.
Serving as an emergency shelter and a recreation center for school and community activities, the 40,600-square-foot field house, also slated for completion in August, is being built to International Code Council 500 standards for storm shelters and will accommodate up to 1,343 occupants. The building will offer two gymnasiums, a fitness center, a cafeteria and men’s and women’s locker facilities. The single-story field house will host community programs which are expected to include open gym, basketball and indoor soccer. The building will also function as a rental venue.
“Providing the children in our hometown community with access to world-class education has always been a key component of the Babcock Ranch vision,” Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, has said. “To see this next step in our development come to fruition, and to witness how it will provide an easy transition into the all-important high school years for our K-8 students is incredibly meaningful.”