Schimmels Construction Inc., of Spokane, recently began work on a $6.6 million job to renovate athletic facilities at Hart Field, located north of 37th Avenue between the current and future Jefferson Elementary School sites.

Hart Field is the home outdoor athletic venue for Lewis & Clark High School. Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad PLLC, of Spokane, designed the project.

Greg Brown, Spokane Public Schools' director of capital improvements, says Schimmels Construction submitted the lowest bid to upgrade the nearly 32-acre athletic complex. The project includes renovating a field house there and putting in new storage and concession buildings, a new access road, and parking lots.

The project also involves installing new underground utilities, resurfacing a running track, replacing stadium bleachers, renovating eight tennis courts, and adding two new tennis courts.

The project is expected to be finished by next summer, Brown says.

The district recently expanded the Hart Field project scope and budget, saying it could afford to pay for upgrades to meet high school athletic field standards because of the district's overall construction cost savings in recent years. The district has realized that savings because construction bids for a number of projects funded through the 2009 school bond election came in lower than anticipated.

Meanwhile, Spokane-based T.W. Clark Construction LLC is building the nearby Jefferson Elementary School replacement project under a $12.5 million contract, and the school is expected to open this fall. Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad also designed the Jefferson project.

The new school will be a 60,000-square-foot, single-story structure and will be located at 37th Avenue and Manito Boulevard, a few blocks west of Jefferson's current location, at 37th and Grand Boulevard.

Brown says the district plans to use the current Jefferson school during the 2014-15 school year to hold Hutton Elementary School students and employees for a year while Hutton is being renovated. After that, it might be used as a temporary office site for support staff, he adds.