The MACS Fine Arts Center is taking shape on the campus of Charlotte Catholic High School. The $21 million center is expected to open at the beginning of the 2022-’23 school year. (Photos provided by Choate Construction, Asheville Catholic School, Shiel Sexton and the Diocese of Charlotte Properties and Risk Management Office)CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Properties and Risk Management Office is working hard to keep pace with multiple Catholic schools’ expansion projects under way to accommodate growing enrollment and investments in state-of-the-art educational facilities.
Two projects are winding down – at Asheville Catholic School and St. Gabriel School in Charlotte – where work is expected to be completed when school starts this month.
Construction on the long-awaited MACS Fine Arts Center adjacent to Charlotte Catholic High School is in full swing.
The diocesan Properties Office has two more extensive construction projects lined up this coming year: an athletic complex at Christ the King High School in Huntersville and, at Immaculata School in Hendersonville, a STEM Lab and relocation of the main entrance to create a secure vestibule and new administrative offices.
More details on current and upcoming Catholic schools’ construction projects are:
Asheville Catholic School
Asheville Catholic School has six new classrooms, a dedicated art room, common areas and more.A 12,000-square-foot addition at Asheville Catholic School – the first for the school in nearly four decades – is complete. It includes six classrooms, a dedicated art room, common areas and more.
Every aspect of the project incorporates environmentally-friendly design elements, from energy-efficient LED lighting to pervious surface parking to collect stormwater runoff.
The most exciting and visible aspect is the addition of over 200 solar panels to the roof (beginning in September) that will help power the school.
The $3.9 million project was funded in part by a $3 million school capital campaign, a $390,000 St. Eugene Parish “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign rebate and a $475,000 “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” grant.
The school will celebrate the project’s completion with a ribbon-cutting event with Bishop Peter Jugis Aug. 26.
MACS Fine Arts Center
The MACS Fine Arts Center, a 47,700-square-foot facility located on the Charlotte Catholic High School campus, is taking shape. Diocesan properties officials confirm the building exterior structure is up and roofing work and some exterior glass work is set to start around the time school begins this month. Inside the new structure, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work is under way in preparation for pouring the building’s first-floor concrete slab.
When completed, the $21 million center will house a 600-seat auditorium and a high-quality performance and exhibit space for MACS students.
It will also house an art room, a band room, choral room, ceramics studio, dance studio, digital lab, stage and theater. Charlotte Catholic’s visual and performing arts classes will move to the new center, freeing up space inside the high school for other classroom use as well as space for a weight room, wrestling room and more.
Construction is expected to continue through the end of the 2021-’22 year, with completion anticipated before the start of the 2022-’23 school year.
Christ the King High School
Christ the King High School in Huntersville will start construction on a new Athletic & Activity Complex this winter.Christ the King High School in Huntersville is poised to begin construction this winter on the Fulford Athletic & Activity Complex.
The project features a 14,226-square-foot addition, which will include a new gymnasium with bleacher seating for 728 people and cross-court play. It will also have home and visitor locker rooms.
The existing 7,500-square-foot gym will be converted into a stage, storage rooms, offices for a coach and trainer, and an awards gallery. The stage will be used for band, musical and theater performances as well as school assemblies and school-wide Masses.
A new parking lot will also be constructed on the gym’s north side.
Construction is expected to start this winter and take 10 months to a year to complete. The $6.6 million project is being funded by $3.96 million in pledged donations from the Christ the King High School community and $2.7 million from Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools.
St. Gabriel School
St. Gabriel School in Charlotte has a new art room and two new classrooms to accommodate a growing number of students.With a growing student population, St. Gabriel School in Charlotte has reconfigured 5,829 square feet on the building’s main level – part of which was used as office space and part of the media center –to add two new classrooms to accommodate additional kindergarten and first-grade classes. An art space was also created within the media center.
The $659,000 project was funded by Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools and St. Gabriel Parish.
Immaculata School
Immaculata School in Hendersonville will relocate its main entrance and build a STEM Lab.Thanks to financial support from Shea Homes, Immaculata School will begin construction this fall on a new 1,700-square-foot STEM Lab and relocation of its main entrance to create a controlled security vestibule and new administrative offices.
The school will heighten its presence in downtown Hendersonville by capping its new 500-square-foot entrance lobby with a tower element designed to complement the architecture of Immaculate Conception Church across the street.
Construction is expected to start this fall and continue through the end of the school year. The school intends to hire a new teacher to lead the school’s new STEM program next fall when the new STEM Lab is complete.
The $2 million project is being funded by a $1.9 million grant from Shea Homes and $100,000 donated from the school community.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter