A major construction project will soon be taking place in the Waterloo School District as WJ Zahnow Elementary School prepares for a year-long construction project that’s been in the works since 2022.

Beginning in the next few weeks, the school located at 301 Hamacher Street will be undergoing some substantial renovations focused on the current entryway and western wing of the building.

Waterloo families with students at Zahnow might have noticed a recent post on the school’s Facebook page in which social worker Michael Nehre outlines some changes to school operations that will be in place through the construction.

The primary change Nehre noted was the closure of the school’s main entrance. Students will instead enter the building through the doors that bus students have long used.

Parents dropping off or picking up their students are asked to park in the lot near Rogers Street, especially as the front parking lot is expected to be closed at some point due to construction.

Additionally, Nehre pointed out that parents dropping off coats or other items their student left at home will be able to leave these items in boxes by the door for office staff to pick up when they have the opportunity.

In anticipation for the renovations, Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron offered an overview of the expansion project.

He recalled that a major presentation for the Zahnow expansion took place in the fall of 2022, with the initial strategic planning meeting taking place several months earlier in August.

Charron noted that at the time, Zahnow enrollment saw a substantial increase to the extent that additional facility space was required.

While the purchasing of temporary classroom space was considered, it was ultimately decided that a full renovation project would be appropriate.

“We felt like this was not just a temporary issue, so in order to not be wasteful on purchasing temporary classrooms, we decided to relocate our early childhood and pre-K students to Gardner Elementary while we explored the needs of the district at that time,” Charron said.

After further meetings and discussion regarding expansion plans, the district sought a construction management company in Holland Construction and has since finalized the project with FGM Architects.

The first part of the project was actually completed last summer as Zahnow saw a substantial upgrade to its parking lot and drop-off lane which received plenty of praise at the start of the current school year.

“Everything I hear is that it is a positive for the school and for the community, that it has gotten a majority of traffic off of city streets during those congested times of drop-off and pick-up of students,” Charron said. “Traffic seems to be flowing smoothly for the process of bus and parent drop-off, and faculty feels that there are safe processes in place with the addition of the extra lane and extra parking that that project provided.”

Work on the actual building, Charron said, is set to begin sometime before the second week of February. A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 2, at 3:20 p.m.

This construction will center around the addition of four classrooms, the building of a new office suite for enhanced safety and the removal of current office space for the purposes of asbestos abatement.

The existing office space will be replaced with, as Charron described, a multi-purpose and recreational area for recess when students are unable to go outside.

Altogether, the project at Zahnow is expected to add about 15,000 square feet to the building.

Regarding the cost, renovations to the school are currently budgeted at just under $8 million, with costs potentially stretching over that mark with the purchase of other additions such as HVAC systems.

With the parking lot expansion costing $893,000, the cost for the project overall stands at about $8.9 million.

Construction is expected to conclude sometime in February of next year, though Charron noted that the renovations being made to the interior of the building are expected to be finished by the start of the next school year this coming August.

Charron further said that this project is set to accommodate student growth for at least a decade.

“We suspect that this project should at least cover the district’s facility needs for the next 10 years, assuming enrollment in the district trends like it has been,” Charron said. “Our other buildings do have a little bit of space to accommodate growth, and for that reason, we feel like we have committed to a project that the district can currently afford to commit to that will serve our needs for the next 10 years, at least.”