Construction of two North Idaho elementary school projects is well underway and have targeted opening dates for this fall.

The Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls school districts each are building new $12.5 million facilities.

Coeur d’Alene’s Northwest Expedition Academy is being built at 2008 W. Prairie to replace an outdated K-5 elementary school building in Hayden.

The new building, which will have more than 53,000 square feet of space, is located on the south side of Prairie Avenue and a quarter-mile west of Ramsey Road. Ginno Construction Co., of Coeur d’Alene, is the general contractor, and Architects West Inc., also based in Coeur d’Alene, is the project architect.

District officials purchased the 7-acre site on which the school is being constructed for $1.1 million in May 2018.

NExA is a 2 1/2-year-old K-5 program that uses expeditionary learning models. Students have been using the former Hayden Lake Elementary School site, which was built in 1936.

The two locations are roughly two miles from each other. Scott Maben, the Coeur d’Alene district’s director of communications, says the district plans to sell the 28,000-square-foot Hayden school building, at 9650 N. Government.

Since the new building will be nearly double the size of the current location, school district officials expect NExA’s enrollment to increase from 282 students now to 600 for the 2020-21 school year.

The district’s most recent new school was the rebuild of Winton Elementary School, which opened four years ago. Construction of NExA is funded through the $33.5 million bond measure approved by voters in March 2017.

Meantime, the Post Falls School District is building Treaty Rock Elementary School at 4916 E. Hope, in the Foxtail subdivision east of state Route 41

Ginno is the project’s general contractor for the project, and Architects West designed it.

The 57,000-square-foot school will serve 500 students and include 21 classrooms, a gymnasium, a media center, a combined commons and cafeteria with a stage, a life skills suite, and a secure entry.

Treaty Rock is scheduled to be completed in August and open for students in September. The project is being financed through a $19 million bond voters approved in March 2019.