From the Ground Up: Reed Academy for Fine and Performing Arts

Owner: Springfield Public Schools
General contractor: DeWitt & Associates Inc.
Architect: Sapp Design Associate Architects Inc.
Engineers: Olsson Inc., civil and landscape; Toth and Associates Inc., structural; and Interpres Building Solutions LLC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 128,900 square feet
Cost: $39.8 million
Lender/Funding source: Proposition S
Estimated completion: April 2026
Description: A new and improved Reed Academy is being constructed on the middle school’s original site to preserve a neighborhood connection that goes back a century, according to school officials in past Springfield Business Journal reporting. This incarnation will be about 40,000 square feet larger than the building it replaces and will have more parking, as the old structure had grandfathered parking requirements and nowhere near the space needed for all the cars, according to a district official; additionally, the car line has been designed to accommodate some six dozen vehicles. The design uses salvaged materials, including parts of the original auditorium’s wood flooring being repurposed for ceiling features and stone relief sculptures being relocated to a new commons area. The building includes a standard SPS middle school program and a fine arts academy, and its multipurpose auditorium will also serve as a safe room.