St. Louis-based Kwame Building Group has wrapped construction on a series of projects in the Normandy Schools Collaborative in St. Louis.
Kwame Building Group served as the construction manager and owner’s representative. The projects, which were funded by Proposition N, a $23 million no-tax-rate-increase bond issue, include the new $15 million Normandy Early Learning Center, new library media centers and STEAM studios at Jefferson and Washington Elementary and additions at all elementary schools to reconfigure the schools to a 1st-through-8th-grade model.
The new Normandy Early Learning Center on Natural Bridge Road was constructed to improve the long-term educational outcomes of the district’s students by combining pre-school, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten on one campus. Construction of the 68,000-square-foot, two-story building included demolition of the existing 120,000-square-foot middle school, site development and parking lot improvements.
The new state-of-the-art facility features a tree-house themed library; outdoor playground; gymnasium and 35 classrooms. The architect was TRi Architects.
Previously, KWAME served as the program construction manager for the Normandy Schools Collaborative $16 million bond program. The program, which spanned 2004 through 2008, included renovations and expansions on Normandy Senior High School and other district facilities. In 2011, KWAME was the construction manager and owner’s representative for the district’s 65,000-square-foot Barack Obama Elementary School.