Keokuk CSD breaks ground on high school music wing project

KEOKUK, Iowa — Officials and students in the Keokuk Community School District gathered March 9, 2022, with members of the community to celebrate the start of a multi-million dollar building project at Keokuk High School.

Carl A. Nelson & Company (CANCO) is leading the $3.9 million Music Wing Addition and Secure Entrance Renovation project in the Construction Management Agency role. The project is one of several CANCO-led K-12 school construction projects now underway.

Included in the project, which is being funded by dollars from KCSD's allocation of state sales tax revenue, is an 8,000 square-foot addition that will house new band and choir rooms, small practice rooms and associated office space and storage; and renovation of the 4,000 square feet currently occupied by the band and choir programs to provide a secure entrance to the school. The music addition, which is to be constructed of load-bearing masonry walls and hollow core precast roof panels, was designed by SVPA Architects of West Des Moines, Iowa, to promote proper acoustics. 

"This is a place where we will continue to cultivate and develop life-long artistic learners," KHS Principal Adam Magliari said during the event, according to a March 10 report in the Keokuk Daily Gate City.

The secure entry will include reception, office space for the School Resource Officer, and a multi-purpose room with athletic flooring for after-school activities.

Work is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2022, in time for the start of the 2022-23 school year.

Meanwhile, CANCO also is leading a $2.78 million, federally funded HVAC improvement project — with design from Klingner & Associates — at Hawthorne Elementary School in Keokuk. The project at the school, which houses students in kindergarten through third grade, is being paid for with ESSER grant funds awarded to school districts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help upgrade ventilation systems, will modernize and simplify the heating and cooling systems at Hawthorne to increase operating efficiency and maintenance.

The school, built originally in 1954 and expanded in 1978, 2000 and 2011, now has a variety of unintegrated systems. The project introduces a unified HVAC system across the building, except in original sections that will rely on new unit ventilators. Even those, however, will be connected to heating and cooling produced by two new boilers that will replace existing boilers, and a new chiller. Work begins during spring break and will be completed during the summer of 2022. 

Both projects resulted from a master planning process led by Carl A. Nelson & Company and SVPA Architects in 2021. The CANCO team also supported the project during the pre-construction phase, advising on design, budget and schedule prior to bid-letting. Full-time, on-site supervision will be provided throughout the project.

This image shows a Google satellite view of Keokuk High School, overlaid with drawings by SVPA Architects, showing locations of construction that will be underway during spring and summer 2022. In the upper left is the 8,000 square-foot Music Wing Addition. The center of the image shows placement of the 4,000 square feet being renovated as a secure school entrance. CANCO composite