Blew's Construction Inc., of Spokane Valley, has won a contract for a $5.7 million school modernization project in Yakima, Wash.

In the project, Blew's will upgrade the West Valley School District's former high-school building, which the district plans to convert to a school for its ninth graders, says Jeff Orwick, a project manager for Blew's Construction. The district recently wrapped up construction of a new high school, where 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students will continue to be taught, but the ninth-grade classes will be moved from the district's middle school to the converted building once the project is complete. The district has a total of about 4,500 students.

Blew's will overhaul the about 80,000-square-foot old high school, including upgrading the electrical, plumbing, and heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems. The company will install a new roof, new flooring, new interior walls, and new cabinets and countertops. Blew's also will upgrade the restrooms and locker rooms, and will install new bleachers in the gymnasium.

In the project, the company will make some modifications to the building, including constructing new hallways to join the school to its connected gymnasium more efficiently, and adding a new 800-square-foot computer lab.

Construction will begin soon, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of June, Orwick says. Architects West Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, designed the project.