WATERLOO -- A nearly $17 million building would replace Logan Middle School on the same property, under a plan presented to the Board of Education Tuesday.

Board members heard from Brad Leeper of InVision Architecture's Waterloo office as they set a June 25 public hearing on the construction project. Officials proposed building a new school on another portion of Logan's 35-acre site, where the football field and track now stand. The 54-year-old school is located along Logan Avenue, which is part of U.S. Highway 63.

The new building will be constructed around shared spaces such as a commons and media center.

Construction is projected at $13.8 million, Leeper said. Site development such as driveways, fencing and landscaping is estimated at $900,000 while other project costs like contingency, design, furniture, equipment and signs have a pricetag of $1.95 million. Those costs would drive the total for the project to $16.65 million.

"We are looking at design completion late summer of this year, so we're moving pretty fast," said Leeper, who showed schematic designs to the board. Construction would start in the fall with the project finished in December 2009. It will be paid for with Waterloo Community Schools' proceeds from the voter-approved 1 percent local option sales tax.

Leeper told the board the new school would be divided between a public area and an "academic core."

The commons will serve as a cafeteria and an auditorium with a stage. It will be designed for easy use during public events.

"That is the center of the school as you come into the school," said Leeper. Those entering the building during the day would be routed through the office, as with other new and remodeled district schools.

Teachers involved in planning felt the media center should have a similar prominent location.

"The main organizational elements they wanted was for the media center to be the hub of the school," he said. It would be placed at the center of the academic core.

Adjacent to the media center would be the cafeteria and a computer lab. The academic core would contain shared resource areas for those who need to work in small groups or across classroom lines. It would also be capable of dividing into "smaller learning communities that can be separate from the rest of the building," said Leeper.

"It's the idea of a school within a school, to break down the size of a 450- to 500-student school into smaller components of 150 or 160 for more intimate learning and better interaction for students and staff," he said.

A greenhouse proposed by Iowa State University would be adjacent to science labs and used for learning during the day. It would also have a wider community use outside of the school day. Iowa State would hire an urban horticulturist to work with students and the community.

Superintendent Dewitt Jones alluded to a foundation that will be covering the greenhouses' $200,000 cost. Details will be revealed in October.

He noted the school's site committee chose building new over remodeling Logan, both of which would cost about the same. A similar decision was made at McKinstry Elementary School, which is the same age and design as Logan.

"If we were going to spend the same money to remodel or build new, the decision clearly was it made more sense to build new," said Jones. But that doesn't necessarily mean either of the existing schools will be torn down.

"Now, what's going to happen to the old Logan and what's going to happen to the old McKinstry? There's been no decision yet, but there may be an opportunity to use McKinstry for sure for other things," said Jones. "And we haven't gotten that far with Logan, nor have we finalized anything with McKinstry."

He added that the board would have to make any final decisions on what to do with the buildings.

Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.