Dorchester District 2 officials on Monday finalized the $1.52 million purchase of a 24-acre tract in North Charleston on which an elementary school will be built.
With the closing complete and the project out for bid, builders could break ground as early as Jan. 1 on the $15 million school, which will be located on Patriot Blvd. by the entrance of McKewn Plantation, said Superintendent Joe Pye.
“I am thrilled because it’s a gorgeous piece of property,” Pye said of the parcel, which sits near Wescott Plantation. “The property has more than 40 live oak trees, of which we may only lose one in the process of building the school.”
Dorchester 2 has received approval from the City of North Charleston, the State Department of Education and the state Department of Transportation to build the school.
“All due diligence has come back with flying colors,” Pye said. “The plans are already in Columbia being reviewed.”
Slated to open for the 2011-2012 school year, the school will serve between 900 and 1,000 students and is being modeled after nearby Fort Dorchester Elementary, which opened in August 2003. Fort Dorchester Elementary is approximately 105,000 square feet and has 60 classrooms, including art and music rooms. LS3P Associates, the architectural firm that drew up plans for Fort Dorchester Elementary, will design the new school.
No address or name has yet been assigned to the school, which will be funded with bond revenue monies.
The school will be built on about 20 acres, with the remaining acreage possibly being used to expand the school at a later date, for a playground, for a parking lot or for a combination of the aforementioned projects, Pye has previously stated.
The school will alleviate the burden at Oakbrook and Fort Dorchester Elementary schools, which are a combined 450 students over capacity and will serve the anticipated growth of Wescott Plantation and McKewn Plantation, which is still being developed, but could have as many as 2,200 homes, Pye said.
Pye has said the school will be a “neighborhood school” because it will be surrounded by houses and many students will live close enough to walk. The property on which the new school will be built already has sidewalks, water pipes and fire hydrants.

Contact Michael Tannebaum at 873-9424 ext. 215 or mtannebaum@journalscene.com