Blew’s Construction Inc., of Spokane Valley, has won a $1 million contract for a second phase of remodeling work at Spokane Valley Tech, a technical- and career-based learning center for high school students.

Blew’s started construction on Dec. 16 to upgrade 7,800 square feet of space in the center at 115 S. University for a second biomedical lab, three additional classrooms, and an administrative office, says Central Valley School District spokeswoman Melanie Rose.

The Valley center is a collaboration of Central Valley School District, which is acting as the host district, and East Valley, West Valley, and Freeman school districts. The center provides programs to junior- and senior-year high school students to learn technical skills and gain experience in preparation for careers involving science, technology, engineering, and math. 

Spokane Valley Tech offers programs that include aerospace and advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurship, sports medicine, cosmetology, fire science, biomedicine, and engineering.

Rose says the state Legislature in its most recent session approved $1.5 million in capital funding for the current phase of work, and Architects West Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, did the design work.

The school expects the current project to be finished by April.

In the spring of last year, Blew’s Construction finished a $1.6 million first phase of construction to convert 12,500 square feet into six classrooms and upgrade the building’s exterior. 

Rose says Spokane Valley Tech currently serves about 180 students.

The center occupies a former Rite Aid store building that has a total of nearly 52,000 square feet of floor space. The tech center occupies about 30,000 square feet of that space, and the West Valley School District operates its Dishman Hills High School as a separate school in nearly 21,000 square feet of the structure.

With $1 million in additional funding being requested from the Legislature this year, Spokane Valley Tech plans a third phase of construction that would include additional classrooms and building a large central area for project collaboration, Rose says.

 “We serve students from across Spokane, and from Cheney and Mead, because the programs we have aren’t duplicated elsewhere,” Rose adds.

The Central Valley district bought the structure in May 2012 for $1.8 million.