The Kennewick School District says it has awarded a $4.4 million contract to Spokane-based Lydig Construction Inc. to renovate a former grocery-store building where the district plans to consolidate its administrative offices.

The project will include converting a portion of the 44,000-square-foot, high-ceiling building, at 1000 W. Fourth, into a two-story structure with a 19,600-square-foot second story, says Doug Carl, the district's facility planner. Pullman-based Design West Architects PA designed the project, which is expected to be completed in December, Carl says.

The building will be named the Fourth Avenue Center and will house the offices of the district superintendent, elementary and secondary education administrators, and human resources, he says. The building is about a half-mile southeast of the U.S. 395 bridge over the Lake Wallula stretch of the Columbia River. The district's administrative offices currently are housed in two buildings located within a half-mile east of the Fourth Avenue location, Carl says.

When construction is complete, the center also will include a large conference room, a classroom dedicated to adult-education programs, and a large boardroom that can be partitioned into three classrooms, he says. About a third of the building already houses the district's information-technology department and a multidistrict science resource center, he says.