The Coeur d'Alene School District has awarded Contractors Northwest Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, a $4 million contract to modernize and expand Borah Elementary School.

The expansion part of the project will include constructing a gym, art room, library, and a two-classroom addition with a combined total of 12,000 square feet of new floor space, says Cory Trapp, principal at Longwell+Trapp Architects PLLC, of Hayden, which designed the project.

The project also includes a major remodel of the 20-classroom school, which was built in 1950 and is located at 632 E. Borah, about two blocks northeast of the Interstate 90-Fourth Street interchange. The remodeling work will include heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system renovations; traffic flow and parking improvements; and technological upgrades.

Trapp says CNI has begun work on the school additions and will start the remodel portion of the project in the spring. The work is scheduled to be completed by fall 2014.

Longwell+Trapp also designed a $4.2 million remodel and expansion project at Bryan Elementary School, in north central Coeur d'Alene, where work is under way and is expected to be completed next August.

The projects are being financed through a $32.7 million bond measure that is funding major renovations at five elementary schools and districtwide HVAC and technology upgrades.