SNEAK PEEK. (Above) Stadium High School seniors Erin Ranch (center) and Marice Jewett (right) help Chiara Zoscak, a former Stadium student (left), pick out Stadium merchandise to buy during Tiger Day festivities Aug. 14. Ranch, Jewett and other students w
“A brand new school in a 100-year-old building.” That’s how Stadium High School Principal Jon Kellett described the school, which underwent a major renovation this past year. The $108-million overhaul included gutting the existing main building, known as the “Castle” and constructing a new Performing Arts Center (PAC).
Though the high school isn’t officially slated for total completion until early September, Kellett and other administrators began moving in recently. Kellett’s office has breathtaking views. Out one window, he overlooks Commencement Bay and the other directly into the Stadium Bowl.
School officials weren’t the only ones getting a sneak peak inside the much-anticipated Castle and PAC. Hundreds of students also got preliminary tours of the facilities Aug. 14 and 15 as part of Tiger Days, which Kellett said are typically days set aside for students to check out their locker, pay various school fees and get their school picture taken.
Though this year since the building is new, the students, who came to the school at different time slots according to their grade level, were given preliminary tours of the new facilities including the gymnasium, theater, commons lunchroom and the library.
“Getting oriented with the building is very important,” Kellett said.
The seniors were first in line the morning of Aug. 14. Senior Erin Ranch said she feels lucky to be back at the Castle for her last year of high school after spending two years at the old Mount Tahoma High School facility. “It’s nice being back,” the varsity cheerleader commented. “It’s going to be cool being the first graduating class from this new school.”
Ranch said the renovation and new building turned out better than she expected. “It’s beautiful,” she commented. “Everything is so new.” Though, she added it’s “more retro, new but made to look old.”
“I love it,” senior Marice Jewett said of the new Stadium. “It’s so pretty.
“It was definitely worth the two-year wait,” she added.
The friends’ favorite aspect is the new two-level commons area, where students will eat lunch and socialize.
“It’s different, a lot different,” Ranch said. “I like it better; it’s a lot nicer.”
Tacoma School District’s director of planning and construction Pete Wall said he knew students would be fond of the upper and lower commons area, which also has a brand new kitchen. With it’s orange and blue diamond patterned floor and colorful bright walls with blue and yellow cone shaped lights, he noted the idea was to create a “café/mall feel” kind of like a food court area. It even has its own storefront, the student store, which features a number of display cases and shelving areas.
The commons is one of the few areas in the building where there are no windows, which is another reason for the bright colors used.
Wall said he’s eager to see how students utilize the separate sections of the commons. “We create the space and let the kids figure out how to use them,” he remarked. “Sometimes they are much more creative than the designers.”
Kellett said he’s thrilled the “kids will actually have a place to sit and eat.”
He explained the old cafeteria couldn’t hold all of the students. The new commons can hold slightly less than 850 students per lunch period with two periods planned.
Though students and administrators have been on site, teachers won’t arrive until Aug. 21 to start setting up their classrooms. Project manager Jim Dugan, a senior associate with Krei Architecture, said the final inspection for a certificate of occupancy will be done Aug. 18. The certificate of occupancy inspections are inspecting for a “compliance with access, egress, fire, life safety,” according to Dugan. “All the things that keep you safe in a building are the key components of a certificate of occupancy inspection,” he said.
Though he noted, it’s rare on a project of this magnitude to pass all areas on a first attempt. “Typically, you don’t get your occupancy the day you inspect for it,” he commented. If a final certificate of occupancy can’t be given, a temporary certificate will be issued to allow teachers to begin the move in process.
Kellett said he’s eager for the teachers to see the instructional spaces, which he referred to as a highlight of the project. “They are very modernized with fantastic technology,” he noted, adding every classroom will have at least four to seven computers. Wall said there will also be an interactive white board in every classroom.
With school just a few weeks away, Kellett said, “it’s going to be a real scramble for everyone” to get everything in place. Though he insisted, “we’ll be ready.”
Overall, Kellett said the new Stadium is “absolutely phenomenal and fantastic.
“It’s an honor and privilege to be able to serve as principal at this time,” he commented, noting it’s a “once in a lifetime and once in a career opportunity.”
Kellett, who is starting his sixth year as principal, has been working on the renovation/construction project since it began back in 2001. It’s an exciting time for him, he said, to “actually be able to be mentally in one place.
“I’ve always been living in two places at once,” he remarked. “It’s been a long haul.
“It’s exciting; it’s exhilarating; it’s energizing,” he added to finally get to this point. He can’t wait to get everyone into the school. “It certainly meets and exceeds my expectations in all areas,” he said.
Kellett referred to the Stadium project as a “tremendous gift from the community to these kids.” A $450 million bond passed by the voters in 2001 is covering a majority of the costs associated with the project.
“We’re quite proud overall,” Wall said. “We’re very happy with the contractors,” that are well ahead of schedule.
Renovation of the Castle
The main building at Stadium, known as the Castle, was essentially gutted. Though, Dugan said, “everywhere it was possible to retain the image of the original design or the item of the original design we did, even if it was just the image and we wanted it to look like it did.”
A notable preservation feature is the historic auditorium, which has been transformed into an open space, multi-purpose type room, according the Kellett.
He said the old auditorium will serve as a hallway on the second and third floors in the Castle, which will ease pedestrian traffic flow in the building, a major issue in the past. Formally, students couldn’t get from one side of the Castle to the other without going down the staircases.
The windows behind the auditorium were also opened up, which allows “much more daylight at the third and fourth floor levels,” according to Kellett. The windows were bricked in to control lighting on the stage area.
Through the entire historic building, all the windows were replaced, which were, according to Ben Finney, designed to match the original windows of the building 100 years ago. Finney is a senior project manager with Skanska, USA, and the construction project management group. “They are more energy efficient,” he said, “and looks more like the original.” Two windows in every classroom are operational.
Wall said throughout the building, there’s a lot more lighting coming in.
Other touches of the historic preservation can be found in the building. Historic timber is used in various locations including a window seat in the library and counter tops in a number of office spaces. The timber was saved during demolition, Dugan said, and refurbished to be put back into the school.
The main entryway into Stadium was also preserved to look exactly the way it did 100 years ago, according to Finney. The main administrative office area includes two refurbished historic columns that were original to the school, Dugan said.
Another interesting touch of history can be found in a hallway just off the commons where the old boiler doors are inset and framed into the wall next to the old incinerator “It gives people the history of the building,” Wall said.
Dugan noted the boiler doors were an “after thought, because they were pretty cool to look at.” He said the doors couldn’t be just stored in the attic. Thus, the decision was made to hang them like pictures.
In addition to the historic preservation, Kellett is also fond of the new library. He described it as “absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.
“It’s a beautiful location with views out to Commencement Bay,” he said. “The library is going to be great for studying in such a tranquil setting.”
He’s also pleased with the square footage increase.
Not all the changes at Stadium are visible. Finney said all the electric and plumbing in the historic building was replaced and now meets all current standards.
He also added the high school was fit with a state-of-the-art fire alarm and security system, which includes pressurized stairwells. “Smoke can’t get in the stairwells and travel to the other floors,” Finney explained.
Dugan noted recently the fire escapes passed inspections, and the fire alarms and smoke dampers were all tested.
Construction of new Performing Arts Center
Upon entering the new Performing Arts Center (PAC), one is greeted by a wide-open lobby with a concession stand orientated with blue neon lights.
Stadium’s Tiger mascot is to the left. “It looks right down the street,” Wall said.
PAC will not only have two gymnasiums and an auditorium, but also four art classrooms, business labs, nine science labs, two science classrooms, a wood carving shop, a drafting studio and an exercise room, among others.
A fourth of the new building, at close to 80,000 square feet, is gymnasium space with one main gym and an auxiliary gym. Walking into the massive gym, the eyes draw immediately to the bleachers, which on the right side read “SHS” and on the left “Tigers” in gold lettering shadowed with dark blue. Stadium colors of gold and blue are used throughout the school facilities.
On the floor in the center is Stadium’s mascot the tiger with the outline of Stadium around the perimeter.
A main difference between the new gym and previous one, according to Finney is the height. “In the old gym, you hit the ceiling if you tried to make a basket,” he commented. The main gym has six basketball hoops in all with five additional hoops in the auxiliary.
The second gymnasium will be used for junior varsity sports and physical education.
“It allows for more flexibility,” Wall said. “We’re able to have more classes.”
Kellett said he’s pleased to have a main gym that can hold 1,800 students. For school-wide assemblies in past years, he explained Stadium students would need a police escort to walk from Stadium to the Temple Theater. “We can actually have an assembly in the gymnasium,” he commented.
The new auditorium is another highlight of the new PAC. Kellett described the auditorium, which seats 450, as a “state-of-the-art theater” with “fantastic acoustics.” It’s going to be a nice facility, he said, to showcase the exceptional music and drama programs at Stadium.
Stan Fillips of Turner Construction Company explained the new stage is much larger than the previous stage, which was “awfully narrow.” Now, students will have more space to setup, he noted.
The auditorium has two lighting balances on either side as well as two catwalks, a sound booth and a speaker system. “There’s a great sound when the speakers are on,” Wall said. “It’s really nice.”
He noted the theater is also set up with state-of- the-art acoustic wood panels. “The wooden panels are all different depths, which breaks up sound on the back wall,” Fillips said.
Similar acoustic panels are used in other instructional areas for the choir and band. Sound-proof rooms are also available for practice spaces, which are heavily insolated with sound-proof doors.
The theater as well as all the areas of the new building and Castle are handicap accessible. “We immensely improved wheelchair accessibility,” Wall said. “Before it was pretty much impossible.”
Work continues on parking garage
The 200-vehicle garage is scheduled for completion by the end of August.
Though, it’s unclear whether the four competitive-sized tennis courts on the roof will be ready as well.
“It will be close,” Finney said. “All the parking stalls will be ready.”
