Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of an expansion project to bring a gym and additional classroom space to the Henrico private school. (Courtesy Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School)
Just as one local private school marks the start of an expansion, another is in the midst of a capital project of its own.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School held a groundbreaking in October to commemorate its planned expansion at 8250 Woodman Road in Henrico.
And over in the city, Cristo Rey Richmond High School held a ceremony the same month to recognize the completion of most of an ongoing renovation project at its campus in the Museum District.
Our Lady of Lourdes plans to build a new wing for the school that will include a gym, art and music classrooms and more restrooms, storage space and a new playground. The project is expected to cost $4.2 million between construction and other expenses.
The upcoming addition will add 11,400 square feet to the school, which will bring it to a total of about 48,000 square feet.
Our Lady of Lourdes Principal Carey Jacobsen said that with the school’s groundbreaking event in the rearview mirror, construction is expected to kick off in the next couple months with a target completion date of this time next year.
Century Construction Co. is the project’s general contractor. Huff-Morris Architects is the project’s architecture firm.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School has plans in the works to build an addition to the school. The addition will feature a gym as well as art and music classrooms and additional restrooms. (Courtesy Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School)
The project comes as a way to provide purpose-made space for activities currently handled in the school multipurpose room, which is used for school functions including lunch, gym classes and assemblies and also is used by the Our Lady of Lourdes church parish.
“It’s used constantly and that’s really the basis for the need,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen said the addition also is seen by school leaders as a way to up the ante in terms of the institution’s offerings and profile.
“We want to make sure we’re providing the best education for the students who are already here but at the same time we hope people will see we’re a vibrant and vital part of the community with this construction, and it will bring attention to our school,” she said.
The school’s original building was built in 1963. The school’s last major capital project was a 10-classroom addition that opened in 2000.
The school teaches junior kindergarten to eighth grades and has 350 students. Students come from Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield, Goochland and Prince George. Tuition for Catholic students is $8,470. Non-Catholics pay $11,025 in tuition.
Cristo Rey Richmond High School
Cristo Rey Richmond High school is well underway on a renovation project to its campus in the city. The school held a dedication ceremony to recognize the work that has been completed thus far. (Courtesy Cristo Rey Richmond High School)
In the Museum District, Cristo Rey Richmond High School is preparing to enter the last phase of a renovation project on its campus at 315 N. Belmont Ave., which was previously home to Benedictine College Preparatory school.
Cristo Rey held a dedication ceremony last month to recognize the completion of renovations to campus buildings that house academic, student life and administrative facilities.
With the bulk of the project now completed, the school is turning its attention to a renovation of the gym. That project is expected to cost about $4 million and will feature the creation of a strength training room and health education space, as well as renovations to the locker rooms, according to Cristo Rey Richmond President Peter McCourt.
“The gym was built for an all-boys program so we have to modify the existing locker rooms,” McCourt said.
Renovations to date have involved reworking the interiors of existing facilities to create more uniformly sized classroom spaces and additional academic rooms. The school’s main academic building now has 24 classrooms, three of which are new ones that came by way of the modified floor plan. Cristo Rey also has renovated its student life and administration building, where it has its cafeteria, offices and counseling center.
The overall project is expected to come in at $20 million, which includes the construction costs, land acquisition, endowment and contingency funding. Cristo Rey bought the property last year from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond for $6.8 million.
The gym project will add two additional instruction spaces for around 1,000 square feet of extra space. The school is expected to have a total square footage of between 77,000 and 80,000 square feet at project completion.
Quinn Evans is the project’s architect. Century Construction Co. is the project’s general contractor.
Cristo Rey has 215 students across grades 9 to 12. The co-ed school plans to increase enrollment to 350 to 400 students once the capital project is completed.
Cristo Rey’s tuition is $17,300 this year. Families end up paying less than that because of the school’s work-study program, in which students work paid jobs at local companies and put that money toward their school expenses. Between students’ work and scholarships, McCourt said three quarters of the school’s families pay less than $2,000 per year.
McCourt said the school has agreements with 54 workplaces, including law offices, museums and financial services firms, to facilitate its work-study program. He said that the school is looking to double the number of partners in that program to accommodate its enrollment goals.
Cristo Rey is part of a national chain of Catholic schools. The local school opened in 2019.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of an expansion project to bring a gym and additional classroom space to the Henrico private school. (Courtesy Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School)
Just as one local private school marks the start of an expansion, another is in the midst of a capital project of its own.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School held a groundbreaking in October to commemorate its planned expansion at 8250 Woodman Road in Henrico.
And over in the city, Cristo Rey Richmond High School held a ceremony the same month to recognize the completion of most of an ongoing renovation project at its campus in the Museum District.
Our Lady of Lourdes plans to build a new wing for the school that will include a gym, art and music classrooms and more restrooms, storage space and a new playground. The project is expected to cost $4.2 million between construction and other expenses.
The upcoming addition will add 11,400 square feet to the school, which will bring it to a total of about 48,000 square feet.
Our Lady of Lourdes Principal Carey Jacobsen said that with the school’s groundbreaking event in the rearview mirror, construction is expected to kick off in the next couple months with a target completion date of this time next year.
Century Construction Co. is the project’s general contractor. Huff-Morris Architects is the project’s architecture firm.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School has plans in the works to build an addition to the school. The addition will feature a gym as well as art and music classrooms and additional restrooms. (Courtesy Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School)
The project comes as a way to provide purpose-made space for activities currently handled in the school multipurpose room, which is used for school functions including lunch, gym classes and assemblies and also is used by the Our Lady of Lourdes church parish.
“It’s used constantly and that’s really the basis for the need,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen said the addition also is seen by school leaders as a way to up the ante in terms of the institution’s offerings and profile.
“We want to make sure we’re providing the best education for the students who are already here but at the same time we hope people will see we’re a vibrant and vital part of the community with this construction, and it will bring attention to our school,” she said.
The school’s original building was built in 1963. The school’s last major capital project was a 10-classroom addition that opened in 2000.
The school teaches junior kindergarten to eighth grades and has 350 students. Students come from Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield, Goochland and Prince George. Tuition for Catholic students is $8,470. Non-Catholics pay $11,025 in tuition.
Cristo Rey Richmond High School
Cristo Rey Richmond High school is well underway on a renovation project to its campus in the city. The school held a dedication ceremony to recognize the work that has been completed thus far. (Courtesy Cristo Rey Richmond High School)
In the Museum District, Cristo Rey Richmond High School is preparing to enter the last phase of a renovation project on its campus at 315 N. Belmont Ave., which was previously home to Benedictine College Preparatory school.
Cristo Rey held a dedication ceremony last month to recognize the completion of renovations to campus buildings that house academic, student life and administrative facilities.
With the bulk of the project now completed, the school is turning its attention to a renovation of the gym. That project is expected to cost about $4 million and will feature the creation of a strength training room and health education space, as well as renovations to the locker rooms, according to Cristo Rey Richmond President Peter McCourt.
“The gym was built for an all-boys program so we have to modify the existing locker rooms,” McCourt said.
Renovations to date have involved reworking the interiors of existing facilities to create more uniformly sized classroom spaces and additional academic rooms. The school’s main academic building now has 24 classrooms, three of which are new ones that came by way of the modified floor plan. Cristo Rey also has renovated its student life and administration building, where it has its cafeteria, offices and counseling center.
The overall project is expected to come in at $20 million, which includes the construction costs, land acquisition, endowment and contingency funding. Cristo Rey bought the property last year from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond for $6.8 million.
The gym project will add two additional instruction spaces for around 1,000 square feet of extra space. The school is expected to have a total square footage of between 77,000 and 80,000 square feet at project completion.
Quinn Evans is the project’s architect. Century Construction Co. is the project’s general contractor.
Cristo Rey has 215 students across grades 9 to 12. The co-ed school plans to increase enrollment to 350 to 400 students once the capital project is completed.
Cristo Rey’s tuition is $17,300 this year. Families end up paying less than that because of the school’s work-study program, in which students work paid jobs at local companies and put that money toward their school expenses. Between students’ work and scholarships, McCourt said three quarters of the school’s families pay less than $2,000 per year.
McCourt said the school has agreements with 54 workplaces, including law offices, museums and financial services firms, to facilitate its work-study program. He said that the school is looking to double the number of partners in that program to accommodate its enrollment goals.
Cristo Rey is part of a national chain of Catholic schools. The local school opened in 2019.
Cristo Rey has become a wonderful neighbor for the Museum District. The kids are well mannered, serious students. They boasted that 100% of the 2023 graduating class were accepted to college with scholarships for many of them. Tom Farrell was a huge benefactor, so I suspect his family foundation as well as Dominion Energy is still supporting its efforts.
Too bad the leftists painted Farrell and Dominion as a bunch of criminals, when of course the reverse is a bit more accurate.
CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH SCHOOLS!
Now everybody at private schools south of the River can play basketball games there. St. Edward’s is NOT a regulation sized court (it is short by many feet).
What an excellent time in need for all Catholic schools to enjoy the sport!