NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman confirmed to Hutch Post on Tuesday that the district will be buying the Masonic Lodge building at 1800 East 23rd Ave to use for Ad Astra Academies.
"We purchased that," Couchman said. "We will close on that Sept. 15. We are working with an architect and interviewing Construction Managers At Risk soon. In September, we'll be interviewing for a Construction Manager At Risk to lead this project with our architect."
Couchman doesn't know how soon they can move things over.
"How fast they can get turned around will be a little bit at the hands of our construction people," Couchman said. "We are hoping, it would be wonderful if we could be in there and move over Spring Break, but it has to be really completely remodeled and updated, probably more realistically, over the summer."
The building is about 5000 square feet, which is roughly twice as large as they thought they could afford if they would have had to build new.
"We do feel like this gives us a little bit of room for our office spaces that we need," Couchman said. "We have eight staff members that work with Ad Astra Academies. It gives them space. Plus, for the alternative students, it has a small kitchen for some life skills, for cooking. We also have some space for testing, bringing kids in for screenings and then some conference space that we'll be able to develop for IEP meetings and various parent meetings that we have."
Until a CMAR is hired, it's impossible to estimate what remodeling cost might be, because prices are changing all the time.
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