Harrison Elementary School, shown in 2023 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will be updated, rather than demolished. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education was given an update on plans to upgrade Harrison Elementary School, as well as new schools at the Hoover and Van Buren Elementary sites at its last meeting.

“We’re very excited about how it’s coming together,” Robin Randall of Legat Architects said of the Harrison remodeling and building addition.

Randall told the board the school’s interior will be similar to new schools that have been built in recent years.

“The existing Harrison plan hosts the pod configuration really well,” Randall told the board at its Jan. 13, 2025, meeting. “There won’t be any compromises to education in using the existing floor plan.”

Read more: School Board reverses decision to demolish Harrison

Advocates protest the demolition of Harrison Elementary School in October 2023. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

She noted that the main entrance will be built between the historic brick school and the new addition, and features such as arched windows in the existing gym will be retained.

The School Board in April 2023 overturned a task force recommendation to upgrade the architecturally significant school and voted instead to demolish the building, at 1310 11th St. NW.

After the overwhelming failure of the school district’s $220 million bond referendum in November 2023, the board hired Shive-Hattery Architecture & Engineering for $850,000 to conduct a survey surrounding reasons for the failure and direct the future bond referendum.

More: See what projects are in the next school bond proposal

Though it was not a part of the bond proposal, the demolition of Harrison was cited among the top reasons the bond vote failed.

Built in 1929 in a unique English Tudor and Gothic design, Harrison opened in 1930 and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The district is closing neighborhood elementary schools and building larger “mega-schools” to combine student populations; in this case with Harrison and Madison Elementary.

About 16 months after their demolition vote, the School Board changed course and voted to retain Harrison. In that time, the cost of construction has risen.

Jim Hollenback, senior architect at Legat, told the board that initial estimates of $35 million for the planned upgrades and building addition in 2023 had increased to $38 million to $44 million by the time construction commences this summer. Completion is expected in 2027.

Preschool and kindergarten rooms are included in the updated school, which will have a capacity for 600 students.

The original budget was based on a per-square cost that is lower than current figures, Randall noted.

“Inflation is a real thing,” Board President Cindy Garlock said. “The longer we wait to do these construction projects, the more expensive they’re going to get. We know the Harrison project is a little later than we anticipated and there is a cost that goes with that.”

Van Buren Elementary will be demolished and replaced with a larger school under the Cedar Rapids School District’s plans. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

Garlock did not acknowledge the board’s decisions in creating that delay and despite cost increases, the district is forging ahead with new schools for Hoover, 4141 Johnson Ave. NW, and Van Buren Elementary, 2525 29th St. SW.

Related: School Board votes again on new schools after open meetings complaint

Both schools are at or near capacity for students, but the board did not investigate potential cost-savings by constructing new additions at either site and instead will demolish both schools to build new.

Representatives of Shive Hattery, MA+ and Larson Construction said both the Hoover and Van Buren projects are progressing, but did not cite any costs and the board did not ask about projected costs.

Both schools are slated to open in 2027.

More: Iowa City upgrades schools at half the cost of Cedar Rapids plan

President Hoover attended the groundbreaking in 1954 for Hoover Elementary School, shown in 2024. (photo/Cindy Hadish)