Yorktown High Construction To Conclude This Summer

The final phase of construction on the new Yorktown High School is on track to be completed by the end of this summer.

The construction began in 2009 and has been split into three phases, with Phase 1 completed in the summer of 2010 and Phase 2 in December 2011. Phase 3 is now in its finals stages.

Meanwhile, the classroom trailers that had housed overflow students during construction have been moved into the parking lot for Phase 3 while the tennis courts are being replaced. Arlington Public School officials sent a letter last month to parents assuring them that the trailers will be removed soon and will not be there when school starts in September.

The work on Phase 3 includes the demolition of the school’s Greenbrier Wing — facing Greenbrier Park and 28th Street N. — as well as its original gymnasium and swimming pool. In its place will be an auxiliary gym, new media center, permanent locker rooms (Phase 2 included temporary ones), classrooms and an interior courtyard.

Phase 1 included the cafeteria, administration offices, classrooms and the renovated auditorium. Phase 2 consisted of the set shop, dressing rooms and green room for the auditorium, music rooms, the black box theater, the main gymnasium, weight room, wrestling room and the aquatics center. Both phases also integrated the school’s 58,000-square-foot 2004 renovation and a portion of the original auditorium.

The old school was built in the 1940s and originally opened in 1950 as an elementary school. It was converted to a high school for the 1960-1961 school year to alleviate overcrowding at the county’s first secondary school, Washington-Lee High School.

Wakefield High School has also undergone the construction of a new school building, which is scheduled to be finished August 2013. Both new buildings are expected to receive LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.