TCAPS Gearing Up for Central Grade Reconstruction, West Middle Music Renovations

Traverse City Area Public Schools is gearing up for two major projects: the estimated $55 million reconstruction of Central Grade School starting this fall and the $4.2 million renovation of TC West Middle School’s music facilities starting this spring.

Central Grade
TCAPS trustees reviewed Central Grade construction plans this week ahead of a targeted August/September kickoff to a three-year, $55 million rebuild of the Seventh Street elementary school.

TCAPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Christine Thomas-Hill, Gabe Alvey of Diekema Hamann Architecture & Engineering, John Dancer from Cornerstone Architects, and Jack Abate of construction management firm Miller-Davis walked trustees through the new design. The plan, which was shaped by public visioning and Central Grade staff feedback sessions, calls for preserving much of the building’s existing footprint along with the sweeping front lawn. Retaining that green space was “very, very important to the entire community,” Dancer said.

However, a portion of the west wing is set to be demolished, with a new two-story addition planned (pictured, lower right). PreK classrooms will all have exterior doors that go directly into their classrooms, with a drop-off lane planned so those students – who must be signed in and out – can be easily escorted to class. All PreK, kindergarten, and first grade classrooms will be located on the first floor. With Central Grade coming up to code, all amenities for those grades – including the media center, art and music rooms, cafeteria, and gym – will also be located on the first floor, as required by law.

Central Grade will have one new consolidated entrance with a security vestibule on Seventh Street (pictured, upper left). A slight grading change will be introduced so the entrance is ADA accessible, with stairs eliminated. The sunken small gym inside will be brought up to grade with the main floor. That gym is being repurposed but will have key historic elements preserved, like its decorative tiles (pictured, upper right). A new main staircase is being installed in that area leading up from the entryway to the second floor. The larger gym is being returned to its “original shape and design,” according to Alvey, with the concrete bleachers removed.

A brand-new cafeteria will be oriented closer to Eighth Street at the back of the building with a new kitchen and direct access to the playground. That will avoid the current disruption of students traveling through the school from the cafeteria to get outside. A renovated playground area (pictured, lower left) will now be completely fenced in, with students no longer crossing a service drive to access different areas. The total playground space, which will use wood chips for the surface, will be “a little bit smaller but much more usable and friendly and better (supervised),” Thomas-Hill said. Parking will be expanded, with 10-12 new spaces added. That’s still not enough to accommodate all the staff, but employees supported that tradeoff to preserve the front lawn, Thomas-Hill said.

Classrooms for second grade and above will be on the second floor, along with the teachers’ lounge and workroom and itinerant classrooms for activities like speech therapy. More restrooms that are easier to find and “appropriately sized” are planned throughout the school, Thomas-Hill said. Conference rooms on the third floor that can be configured for different size groups will accommodate professional development space for teachers and can be converted to classrooms in the future if Central Grade grows.

The design team evaluated multiple energy options as trustees sought to incorporate more sustainable elements into the reconstruction. However, the site is too compact to accommodate geothermal wells, and a hybrid system using both gas and electric was too expensive. That system would also be the only one of its kind in the district, requiring specialized maintenance and staffing, the design team said. Trustees ultimately voted 4-0 (Trustees Josey Ballenger, Ty Schmidt, and Beth Pack were absent) to accept the recommendation to use natural gas boilers at Central Grade. Central Grade will also be fully air conditioned for the first time in its history, including inside Lars Hockstad Auditorium – which will mostly stay the same except for minor code updates.

According to a district timeline, next steps including finalizing construction documents and putting the project out to bid, with trustees approving contracts in July. “Then we will have a pretty hefty job of moving Central Grade into Glenn Loomis,” Thomas-Hill said, with students and staff relocating to that Oak Street building for the next three years. Abatement and demolition work will start in late summer, followed by construction this fall. Abate of Miller-Davis acknowledged it’s going to be a “tight” construction site, with trucks utilizing Wadsworth to avoid damaging the brick on Eighth Street. Some off-site staging could happen at other nearby locations like Thirlby Field, Thomas-Hill said.

Substantial completion on Central Grade is planned by May 2029. Furniture delivery, relocation of materials back from Glenn Loomis to Central Grade, and state inspections for licensed areas will take place that summer ahead of a planned fall 2029 reopening. VanWagoner said TCAPS is planning to host a public open house prior to construction this year to allow the community to take photos and see the old design one last time.

West Middle School Music
TCAPS trustees will vote at their Monday (February 9) meeting to approve $4.2 million in construction awards to renovate the TC West Middle School music facilities. Another capital bond project like Central Grade, the work will include building a new 1,400-square-foot addition to house the school’s choir classroom, renovating existing interior spaces for band and orchestra classrooms (plus adjacent instrument storage spaces), and renovating the media center to create a new conference room and adjacent learning center and school store. HVAC and lighting system upgrades are also planned as part of the project.

A variety of contractors bid on different aspects of the project, with a 15 percent contingency (due to the age of the building) also factored into the budget. Work is expected to start during spring break in March. “While some portions of the project will be completed before others, substantial completion for the entire project is expected no later than November 2026,” according to TCAPS Director of Capital Projects & Planning Paul Thwing.