JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public School leaders officially broke ground Wednesday on a 94,000-square-foot rebuild of Southside Estates Elementary School, which will see the consolidation of students at the school’s current campus and Windy Hill Elementary, when it opens in August 2024.
It will represent the second rebuild project of the taxpayer-funded half-penny sales tax approved in 2020. Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary School received a new facility and it is set to open in August 2023.
The new Southside Estates facility will be built on the site of Southside Estates Park’s ballpark and the replacement ballpark site will be rebuilt where the current campus stands now.
The new school will consolidate Southside Estates and Windy Hill elementary schools, forming one school with an enrollment capacity of more than 900 students.
“The project’s design has taken into consideration community concerns regarding traffic and will have an advanced queuing platform for roughly 135 vehicles,” a DCPS memo about the project said. “In addition to modernized technology and ample classroom space, the new school will feature a computer lab, multipurpose cafetorium, and four playgrounds.”
The project’s budget for both construction and design is roughly $47 million.
Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony follows the groundbreaking of the new Chaffee Trails Elementary School facility, which is also set to open in August 2024.
On May 17, the district plans to break ground on Highlands Elementary School which will educate students currently attending Pine Estates Elementary when it opens in 2024.