Board votes to buy land for new Lexington middle, elementary schools in Hamburg
The Fayette County Public Schools board on Monday voted to buy about 47 acres on Polo Club Boulevard for a long-awaited new middle and elementary school.
The unanimous vote to authorize the purchase of the land at a cost of $275,000 per acre moves those projects closer to completion, district officials said in a news release.
If the district is able to close on the property this fall as planned, construction on the middle school could begin as early as the fall of 2021 and would take 18 to 24 months to complete, officials said. The district is planning for a 110,521 square foot middle school for 900 students and a 67,898 square foot elementary school for 650 students.
“Land is hard to come by here in Fayette County and our staff has worked diligently to identify suitable property for these new schools in a developing area like this one,” Superintendent Manny Caulk said in the release.. “We’re excited to partner with families, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, and local business leaders to design a school that will take our students into the 22nd century.”
The property purchase approved Monday will not be final until after the district completes several steps and receives final approval from the Kentucky Department of Education.
The land is located at 2185 and 2345 Polo Club Blvd. and is currently owned by Polo Club 1, LLC and Ausbrook Polo LLC which belongs to the Madden family. The actual cost of the land is $14.24 million, but the Madden family is making a charitable gift of $1.34 million, bringing the price to the district to $12.9 million.
“We’re grateful to the Madden family for their generous donation and for being willing to sell us this land for one of the highest possible uses, which is to educate the future of our community,” Caulk said.
Pat Madden, the attorney for and a member of the Madden family, said Tuesday that “we’re ecstatic about working with the school system.”
“We’ve worked with them in the past and given the explosion in residential growth that’s occurring out in this corridor, it’s desperately needed,” said Madden.
“We want the folks who live in Hamburg to have brand new,” schools, the best available, he said.
The property is large enough for both an elementary and middle school, but work is expected to begin first on a middle school.
“We continue to be a destination district for families in Central Kentucky, and as a growing district, we have to be proactive about staying ahead of new housing construction, while also renovating and maintaining existing facilities,” Caulk said. “Today’s board decision will help us alleviate crowding in our district middle schools, and position us to stay ahead of crowding at the elementary level.”
The newest middle school building in the district is Edythe J. Hayes Middle School, which opened in August 2004. Since then, major renovations were completed at four other middle schools, including Bryan Station, Jessie Clark, Leestown and Tates Creek middle, the news release said.
Projected enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year puts eight of the district’s 12 middle schools at or above 100 percent capacity, district officials said.
Over the past ten years, Fayette County Public Schools has grown by roughly 500 to 700 students each year. More than 43,000 students are currently enrolled. The district opened four new schools in less than four years -- Brenda Cowan Elementary School in the fall of 2019, Frederick Douglass High School in fall 2017, and Coventry Oak and Garrett Morgan elementary schools in the fall of 2016.
Construction is underway on a permanent home for STEAM Academy and Success Academy at 1555 Georgetown Road, and will start this summer on a new building to replace the existing Tates Creek High School.
“The board’s action Monday puts the district in a position to complete all of the new construction priorities in our 2017 facilities plan,” said Chief Operating Officer Myron Thompson. “Finishing those allows us to turn our attention to the rest of the plan, which includes major renovations of 16 facilities, a new vision for the district’s technical centers, and wholesale renovations at Henry Clay, Lafayette, and Paul Laurence Dunbar high schools and three middle schools.”
The board in 2018 canceled the purchase of land on Squires Road for a new middle school because the land was determined to be unsuitable.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 7:39 PM.