Construction has begun atop Charleston Catholic High School, which plans to add a fourth floor with a multipurpose area and new classrooms before the 2017-18 school year.
The Virginia Street East side of the building is blanketed in scaffolding, and construction vehicles are lined up on Virginia and Dunbar streets.
The multimillion dollar project has resulted in some street closures. The two lanes nearest the school on Virginia Street are closed beginning at the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and ending at the stoplight at the intersection of Virginia Street and Leon Sullivan Way. Dunbar Street is closed from Quarrier Street to Kanawha Boulevard.
Although the construction team was unable to specify a date, Charleston Catholic Principal Colleen Hoyer said the middle lane of Virginia Street will reopen in the next few weeks. Dunbar, from Virginia Street to the Boulevard, will remain closed throughout the life of the project.
There will be few immediate changes for students, who return to Charleston Catholic on Aug. 17. Rather than the main entrance on the Virginia Street side of the building, Hoyer said students will enter through the Leon Sullivan Way entrance. In addition, parents no longer will be able to drop off students on Dunbar Street. Instead, they will be directed to Leon Sullivan Way.
Otherwise, Hoyer said students will have access to every wing of the building, as usual.
The new story, which will be added to the school's math and science wing, will include sixth-grade classrooms, Hoyer said, and a chapel that will double as a multipurpose room for speakers and events.
The school is aiming for the floor to be fully operational by the 2017-18 school year, she said.
Charleston Catholic does not have a multipurpose space for speakers visiting the school. Speakers and events have been held in the school's lunch room in the past. This involves constantly rearranging schedules and times, Hoyer said, which school officials no longer will need to do, with the incoming multipurpose area.
During Mass, the school often directs students to the cathedral across the street. While this is great for events meant to accommodate the school's 400-plus students, Hoyer said, single classes of about 60 students or other small groups "kind of drown in that space." The new chapel will allow smaller groups to congregate in a more size-appropriate room.
The additions to the school have been made possible by a $1.5 million donation from the John and Margaret Krupa Foundation. Margaret Krupa was an attendee of the school and a longtime donor, with former Charleston Catholic principal Debra Sullivan reporting that Krupa donated $5,000 to $10,000 in a yearly Christmas card to the institution for more than a decade.
On top of the $1.5 million donation, the Gazette-Mail reported in March that the institution is raising another $2 million to assist with the addition. The school is still working toward that goal, Hoyer said.
In the meantime, Hoyer said she is aware that the construction could be a nuisance for commuters, but hopes residents see the necessity of the additions, as well as the benefits they can have on downtown Charleston.
"We know that downtown commuters have had to adjust their travel routes," she said, "but we think it's a good thing for growth and building in downtown Charleston."
Reach Jared Casto at jared.casto@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4832 or follow @JaredCasto on Twitter.