new schools / stadiums info for 2007
Three new high schools open in Va. this Fall :
Warren Co. plays musical schools due to overcrowding. The Sr. High & Jr. High
have swapped buildings, and half of the HS students are now Skyline High Hawks.
The new school, which expects 1,150 students in grades 8-12, is just a little south
of the old Sr. High (now Warren Co. Middle) near the entrance to Skyline Drive.
Williamsburg opens their 3rd HS, behind the Outlets Mall at VA 199 & Rt. 614.
Warhill High (240,695 square-feet, 1450 student capacity, $45 mil) relieves
overcrowding at Lafayette & Jamestown and will have no Seniors this year.
The Lions campus also includes the new James City County Stadium, complete with
Pro Turf, which will also be used by the other 2 schools. Cooley Field will still
be used for JV games and an occasional varsity game, and may get turf next year.
Chesapeake opens their 7th HS at Grassfield (on S. Dominion Blvd. between
West and Shillelagh roads, south of Cedar Road; 2400 student capacity, $66.8 mil)
to relieve overcrowding at (mainly) Hickory, Great Bridge and Deep Creek.
Look for about 1,800 Grassfield Grizzlies in grades 9-12 this year.
Also...
Newport News opens An Achievable Dream Middle and High School, in the former
Briarfield Elementary School, expanding their K-8 program for at-risk students.
Patrick Henry-Roanoke's remodeling (Phase II) is complete; it adds 130,000
square feet and a new $4.1 million, 3,000-seat, artificial turf football stadium.
James River should be finished with a $15 mil. renovation ($180/ sq. foot)
Alexandria's T.C. Williams will move into their new builing on the former
football field ($88 Mil for building, $11 Mil for infrastructure and other things);
461k sq. ft., 2500 student capacity (although only about 1,900 students expected in
grades 9-12). The new football field might be ready next year.
Here's a look ahead at planned and proposed construction which I know of :
2008 (Jan.) - a replacement building for Arlington's Washington-Lee (Phase 1)
1600 capacity - $84.5 mil
2008 - Culpeper Co.'s 2nd HS - Eastern View - at State Rt. 666 & US 29 -
1500 capacity - $47 or 53 Mil - will reduce CCHS ADM by about 50%
2008 - Fauquier Co.'s 3rd H.S. - Kettle Run - on Rt. 602, 1 mile North of
Rt. 605, SW of Nokesville (7403 Academic Avenue, Nokesville)
1200 capacity - $70 mil - 230K sq. ft.
Liberty & Fauquier ADM's reduced by about 33%
(Eastern View, Culpeper Co., Kettle Run, Liberty and Fauquier may get together
to give Region II a 4th District)
2008 - a replacement building for King George - $37/42 mil - 1700 capacity - 225k sq. ft.
2008 - a replacement building for New Kent - $50 mil. - 1400 capacity - 241k sq. ft.
2008 - eastern Prince William County - a new Catholic high school - 188k sq. ft.
1400 capacity - at Cherry Hill / Harbor Station, east of Dumfies.
Plans are to open with about 475 Freshmen & Sophomores and play only JV games.
In 2009, they'll add about 300 students and play varsity contests in the WCAC
(Washington Catholic Athletic Conference) with Arlington's Bishop O'Connell,
Alexandria's Bishop Ireton and Paul VI in Fairfax.
http://www.harborstation.com/news, http://www.newcatholichighschool.org/
2008 ? - Front Royal area - a new Catholic school - grades 6-9 to start
Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church's Chelsea Academy
2008 ? - a replacement building for Dinwiddie on Courthouse Road - $40+ mil -
1600 student capacity
2009 - a replacement building for Roanoke's William Fleming - $57 mil.
and a new $4.1 mil, 3,000 or 5,000 seat stadium on Ferncliff Ave. ?
w/ Victory Stadium's goal posts - may not open until 2010
2009 - Roanoke's Northside - remodeling should be complete; $28.3 mil
2009 - a replacement building for Clarke Co. (800 capacity) - $40 mil, 137K sq. ft.
$33 Mil for building, $7 Mil for furnishings & infrastructure
(was $25 mil when first proposed in early 2004)
Westwood Road outside of Berryville, just south of the current high school.
Berryville Primary School will move into the vacated building.
2009 - Page Co. is building two replacement high schools - 123,644 sq. ft. each
$60.7 Mil total; behind Page Co. H.S. & on Leaksville Road for Luray -
then they'll convert the existing high schools to middle schools.
2009 - a replacement building for Arlington's Washington-Lee (Phase 2)
2009 ? - Northumberland County is planning a combined middle and high school
2009 ??? - Loudoun Co. still hasn't started work on Woodgrove HS on the 231-acre
county-owned Fields Farm property north of Purcellville (about a mile from
Loudoun Valley)
2010 ??? - Loudoun Co. is also looking put a school near Leesburg to help Heritage &
Loudoun Co. - maybe North of Leesburg on Rt. 15 Business, or near the airport &
Kincaid Forest, across from the new Smart's Mill Middle School
2010 - Stafford Co.'s 6th HS - on the former 172-acre Ewalt Farm at Leeland &
Cliff Farm Roads in the southern part of the county; near the airport
2010 - Chesterfield Co. replaces Clover Hill w/ a new bldg. on Genito Road -
$82+ mil. (was $55 mil. in 2004)
2010 - Rockingham Co.'s 4th HS - in Elkton - would draw most from Spotswood,
some from TA & Broadway
2010 - Frederick Co.'s 4th H.S.
2011 ? - Chesapeake's 8th HS - in the Centerville Turnpike/Elbow Road area,
to relieve overcrowding at Hickory, Great Bridge, Indian River & Oscar Smith
$90 mil
2011 - Prince William Co.'s 11th H.S. - "Kettle Run" (NOT the same as Fauquier's
2008 school) - ENE of Nokesville on Kettle Run Road or Vint Hill Road,
near the intersection of Rtes. 28 & 215 - 2053 capacity - $95 mil
to relieve overcrowding at Battlefield and Brentsville District
2016 - Prince William Co.'s 12th H.S.
2017 - Loudoun Co.'s 3rd "western" H.S., near Dulles
2018 - Prince William Co.'s 13th H.S.
Alleghany Co., VA - considering a replacement building for Alleghany H.S. - 2012 ???
900 students, $50 mil. ???
Buchanan Co., VA - a replacement building for Grundy H.S. near Poplar Gap Park
(650 students ?)
Dickenson Co., VA - possible consolidation of Haysi & Ervinton in lieu of
floodproofing.
Montgomery Co., VA - will build a $3.6 Mil (started at $2.1 mil. back in 2003),
3,000 seat replacement for Blacksburg's Bill Brown Stadium behind the
middle school (at Prices Fork and Merrimac roads), with construction
scheduled to start soon. AND POSSIBLY build a new H.S. there in 10-20 years.
McDowell Co., WV - Big Creek & Iaeger will consolidate at Bradshaw in ? 2010 ?.
Mingo Co., WV - Burch, Matewan and Williamson might consolidate near
Newtown (Varney) in 2011 (original plan was 2009);
Gilbert might eventually join "Mingo South".
Floyd Co., KY - Betsy Layne, South Floyd & Allen Central might consolidate.
Harlan Co., KY - Cawood, Evarts & Cumberland plan to consolidate into the
Harlan Co. Knights in 2008 @ Rosspoint. $41 mil (was $30)
Price increase led to athletic facilities construction to be
put on hold - football games will be played at ???? Cawood ???
Hawkins Co., TN - Joseph and Mary Rogers Memorial High School - 2009 ???
Stadiums / fields
It looks like I'm going to have to make this a yearly thing now, so here goes ....
Roanoke has a new 3,000 seat, $4.1 million football stadium at Patrick Henry H.S. (near
the intersection of Brandon Ave. & Grandin Road, almost 2 miles behind Towers Shopping Center -
here's a diagram and
picture from The Roanoke
Times). Both PH & William Fleming (which is also AAA now) will share Victory Stadium's
mini-replacement until WF gets their new on-campus stadium in 2 or 3 years.
(I don't
know if this actually happened, but PH was supposed to get Victory Stadium's scoreboard).
"Merrill Gainer Field at Patriots Stadium" has $542,000 worth of ProGrass artificial
turf (which Amherst had installed last Summer), not FieldTurf, as the Roanoke Times reported on
Aug. 1st. The dedicated will be on Aug. 31th at 5 p.m., before the Patriots' game vs. Bassett.
Fleming's 1st game there will be on Sat., Sept. 15th. vs. Heritage of Lynchburg. AND, due to
neighborhood concerns, the field is limited to 5 Friday night games per season, so it'll also
host a handful of Sat. games - some in the afternoon, some at night, so BE SURE to check the
schedules.
Just a short distance away, Cave Spring Middle School's Dwight Bogle Stadium, home for
both CS and Hidden Valley, is getting FieldTurf ($800,000), which has been popping up all over
the place this Summer. However, a delay at the factory has forced the first 2 games scheduled
there to be switched to Away. It looks like the debut will now be Sept. 21st (at the earliest).
Salem Stadium installed FieldTurf ($600,000), which helped them lure the Group A
championship games from JMU.
Honaker's Fuller Field at Emats Stadium is currently getting turf put in by Forever
Green (the same company that put in SmartGrass at Liberty-Bealeton last year and Thiolon XP
Pro at UT-Chattanooga in 2005).
Out in Lynchburg, both E.C. Glass and Heritage installed FieldTurf at their school
stadiums (where the soccer & JV teams play), but will continue to play their varsity contests
on the grass at City Stadium.
Bailey Field in Yorktown (home of Grafton, Tabb & York) is getting FieldTurf ($700,000)
right now.
The new Warhill High in Williamsburg will introduce locals to James City County Stadium
(with 3,000 seats and a Pro Turf surface) as a replacement to the over-used Cooley Field, which
will still be used by the sub-vasity teams of Jamestown, Lafayette & Warhill.
Across the state lines ...
Bluefield's Mitchell Stadium, home of both the Bluefield Beavers & the Graham G-Men,
now has FieldTurf ($700,000).
Princeton's Hunnicutt Stadium also got FieldTurf ($646,000 just for the turf) in what
appears to be a soon-to-be broken record of 2 months.
Martinsburg is behind schedule on the FieldTurf Duraspine installation at Cobourn Field
and may change their fist game to Away.
Greenbrier East spent $1.2 million on a new stadium that has “A-Turf”.
Down 77 in NC, Mooresville is installing MaxPlay (which I'd never heard of before).
In KY, FieldTurf has been installed at Johnson Central's Eagle Field in Paintsville.
In TN, Morristown's Burke-Toney Stadium (home for both East & West) now has SprinTurf
($450,000).
>>> Look for turf in 2008 at Richlands, Monticello, Cooley Field in Williamsburg
and over in Prestonsburg, KY.
And, sadly (???), the last hold-out has given in .... lights have been installed at
Prudich Field over in Montcalm, WV. The 50 year old school has apparently decided that
football is here to stay, and Sat. afternoon heat is a, well, you know. Fans will also be
welcomed by a paved road and a new fieldhouse and scoreboard (see story in the
Bluefield Daily
Telegraph).