EAST GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Parents and community members learned more Tuesday about the $131.2 million East Grand Rapids High School campus expansion at a district meeting.

District leaders shared updated designs for the expansion with representatives from the construction management firm Owen-Ames-Kimball and Pure Architects.

A group of about 50 residents were told the plans center around shifting the district’s campus or “moving east.”

The plan would move around 90% of the district’s high school instructional spaces to classrooms in a newly-constructed building and building addition, both slightly east of the district’s current high school.

The project has been a topic of discussion by the district for several years now, and is being funded by a $158.9 million, 30-year bond that passed in 2023.

A new 150,000-square-foot building is planned, along with a 40,000-square-foot addition to the current high school.

The proposal also centered around safety/security upgrades, expanded and centralized wellness spaces and more natural light.

The project is still pending board approval, and is expected to go before the board in January 2026.

Phase I of construction would then begin in June 2026 and conclude in August 2028, and Phase II would start in the summer of 2028 and conclude in December 2030.

According to the development plan, fourth-through sixth-grade students would be the most affected by heavy construction.

Here are five highlights from Tuesday’s meeting.

‍

A brand new east building.

The largest change to the East Grand Rapids High School under the plan is the new building, which would take the high school’s total building area from 278,300 square feet to just over 309,000 square feet.

The four-story building would be constructed on what is now the senior parking lot. It would primarily house classrooms and lab spaces, with 23 new learning spaces constructed.

The building is the inspiration for the renovation’s catch-phrase, “moving east.”

Aaron Taylor, director of design for Pure Architects, described the design of the new building as “classically modern.

“It’s very much rooted in timelessness over innovation or overly-expressive architecture,” he said. “In our opinion, it fits the community.”

In addition to classrooms, the building would house the school’s robotics lab, student services office and athletics office.

The building would also include a commons area, three-story atrium and outdoor deck, which would look out over the school’s track and field area and Memorial Field.

Phase one of the school’s construction process, which would begin in June 2026 and complete August 2028, includes the construction of the east building.

When completed, the building would be connected via a pedestrian bridge to a new west building addition, which branches out from the existing high school.

‍

A 40,000-square-foot addition to the high school’s main building.

A “west building” would be built as an addition off of what is now the school’s performing arts center, replacing a portion of the existing high school building.

In total, the 40,000-square-foot addition would include 24 new learning spaces, with more classrooms, another commons area and the building’s main office.

The addition would connect to the existing performing arts center, which would remain largely unchanged, aside from some multimedia upgrades.

A new choir room would be built within the addition, however, and the high school’s Little Auditorium would be renovated into a new Black Box Theater.

The band room, orchestra room and locker room off the school’s gymnasium would also all be restored.

The building renovation would be part of phase two of construction, which would begin in August 2028 and wrap up in December 2030.

It would also include the track and Memorial Field renovations, updates to the auditorium, band and orchestra spaces.

‍

More natural light in both new buildings.

The renovated and new buildings would include large windows, developers said, to help “transparently display the learning happening within the building” and to help improve student outcomes through more access to natural light.

Taylor said, “If you’ve experienced the school today, there are classrooms in the middle of this building that now (don’t) have windows. There are very dark corridors that don’t experience natural light.”

One of the most commonly repeated requests during student/teacher brainstorming sessions was the importance of both daylight and quality artificial lighting, district leaders said.

According to statistics shared by the district from an Oliver Health Design guide on creating positive spaces, increased exposure to daylight can increase the speed of learning by 20-26%, improve attendance by an average of 3.5 days per year and improve test scores by between 5-14%.

The proposal would remove the currently windowless classrooms from the middle of the building entirely, instead expanding classrooms in the two new additions to between 900 and 1,000-square-feet.

The goal when designing the buildings is that at least 55% of the regularly-occupied space receives daylight throughout the day.

Taylor said, “you can see areas where we’re using a lot of glass to allow that transparency to occur.

“One of those spaces is the main lobby, the commons off the main entry,” he said. “Light-filled space, warm materials, connecting multiple levels of the building.”

At the same time, the building plan would include sunshades to limit direct sunlight.

The updated site plan would also position new building additions with a better view of Reeds Lake, developers said

In addition to student complaints about the age of the building, Taylor said many also pointed out the inability to see Reeds Lake from school.

“We really took that as a challenge to seek out how we could position the new additions to the school to really leverage this site,” he said.

‍

Campus-wide safety and security upgrades.

As part of the building updates, the renovation would include several safety and security upgrades.

Secure building entry points, lockdown-ready classrooms, building shelter areas and school-wide communication notification systems with emergency messaging would be included.

The development plan was created in partnership with the East Grand Rapids Public Safety Department, district leaders said.

It includes passive security through design, including maximizing visibility, strategic lighting and separation of public areas from academic areas.

The plan also incorporates design elements like force-resistant glass.

‍

A centrally-located student counseling center.

In an attempt to destigmatize the use of counseling, the east building would include a centrally-located student services office complete with a wellness lounge, private counseling offices and small group meeting spaces.

The design also has six private counselor/social worker office spaces, a student respite room and a secure file storage area.

The east building would also include a staff commons area with improved amenities, including a staff wellness room, lactation room, additional staff toilets, a lounge and a workroom.

East Grand Rapids residents who want to learn more about the project designs can do so online.

‍