GYPSUM — One of the final school bond projects officially opens its doors Wednesday.
Of course, Red Canyon High School West’s doors are already opening and closing constantly as crews move the school from its current home in downtown Eagle to its new building next to the Spring Creek Campus. Spring Creek is the school district’s new IT, transportation center and auto shop — which, appropriately, was Integra Auto before the school district bought the building and converted it.
The new Red Canyon West building is part of $154 million worth of voter-approved construction and renovation projects up and down the Vail Valley.
“We would like to thank the community for voting in support of the bond,” Troy Dudley, principal of both Red Canyon facilities said. “A new building speaks volumes to our students about the confidence our community has in them.”
Big and beautiful
The new building is 12,500 square feet and includes learning spaces for STEM and career skills programs, as well as private counseling and special education space.
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For the past several years, the school district leased a building on Broadway in downtown. In the 1930s, that building was a Chevrolet dealership.
Red Canyon students in the western end of the valley have attended classes in converted ranch houses, spare rooms in existing school buildings and that former Chevy dealership.
The new building will also be the school board’s meeting room. In fact, they’ll hold their first meeting there after the ribbon cutting on Wednesday.
Red Canyon joins Eagle Valley Elementary, Eagle Valley Middle and Eagle Valley High School in the running list of completed building projects.
Uncertainty abounded
Even after voters approved the bonds in 2016, there was some uncertainty about where the new Red Canyon building would go. For a while, the school district considered a building on Chambers Road in Eagle. However, costs and the building’s close proximity to a marijuana dispensary kicked it off the table.
Eventually, the owner of the 2.7 acres behind the district’s new Spring Creek campus in Gypsum’s Airport Business Park approached the school district with an offer to sell, and they hammered out a deal to buy the property.
The Red Canyon West building will be almost identical to the Red Canyon East building in Edwards, which was built after voters approved the school district’s last bond projects in 2006.
Voter approved
It’s all part of the voter-approved bond projects, passed in November 2016.
The numbers run like this:
• $131,770,000 in bonds were sold for school projects up and down the valley ($230 million total with interest).
• Those bond sales generated an additional $22,332,115, that will also be spent on school projects.
• That means that the school district has $154,102,115 to spend, $10 million more than the $144 million Eagle County voters thought they were going to have.
Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.
Red Canyon Ribbon Cutting
The Red Canyon West ribbon cutting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Jan. 9. The building is located at 395 McGregor Drive in Gypsum.
Red Canyon High School West
Located on Spring Creek Road, Gypsum
12,500 square foot building
Total acreage of the site: 2.7 for the school
56 parking spaces dedicated to the school
10 flexible, collaborative classrooms
Multi-purpose commons
Large conference / professional development / board room
Construction budget estimated: $5.4 million
Also home to school board meeting room and staff/teacher training facility
Scheduled for occupancy after the winter holiday break
Using same design standards that have been proven successful at Red Canyon High School East
Adjacent to Spring Creek campus