DANBURY -- City leaders say the Danbury High School West building is on track to open for the 2025-26 school year and finally offer students and staff a reprieve from overcrowding in the state's, and New England's, largest high school building.
The building's second phase of construction is underway, City Engineer Antonio Iadarola said in his latest report on the project. This phase includes "all work to fit out the building space for new classrooms, offices and construction of the new gymnasium addition," Iadarola said in the report.
Meanwhile, progress continues to be made throughout the building on "framing, electric, mechanical, plumbing, sheetrock and blockwork," Iadarola said.
If the current construction timeline holds, the building will open three years after city voters approved the funding for it. The building represented $164 million out of a total $204 million education bond package.
Construction Services Superintendent Thomas Hughes elaborated on Iadarola's update in a separate report, saying electrical work, security work, metal stud framing are all ongoing in the structure. Work on the ductwork for the building's heating, ventilation and air cooling system is also continuing, along with outdoor paving and sidewalk work.
All of that work is transforming the former home of Cartus Corp. on a hilltop on Apple Ridge Road into a new large high school campus.
This past spring, leaders redesigned the school's plans, including its name. The building will still house 1,400 students. But they will all be high school students, as middle school grades were scrapped from the plans.
The building's name also changed: it was previously named Danbury Career Academy and now will be known as Danbury High School West.
The building will also house the Board of Education offices.
The program was revised in response to the need to immediately reduce severe overcrowding in the current Danbury High School on Clapboard Ridge Road. Meanwhile, educators say that high student enrollment in city's middle schools has been more manageable.
The revision to Danbury High School West also allows educators to expand the career pathway offerings under the new academies model at the high school that educators will be launching. The building will house three instead of two pathways, according to leaders.