Ridgeline High School is in the final stages of construction and is on track to be completed by July, Central Valley School District administrators say.

The $102 million school has been under construction at 20150 E. Country Vista Drive, on the west side of Liberty Lake, since summer of 2019.

Jay Rowell, associate superintendent, says some parts of the building are ahead of schedule.

“There’s a lot of exterior work that’s already been done that normally would have been done this spring and summer,” Rowell says. “On the interior, we’ve started painting, vinyl wall covering, and flooring. In May, we’ll start moving our furniture into the classrooms.”

The 241,500-square-foot building was designed by Spokane-based ALSC Architects PS. Garco Construction Inc., also of Spokane, is the contractor on the project.

Ridgeline principal Jesse Hardt says the building’s common area was designed to be a central hub from which teachers and administrators can keep an eye on multiple corridors at once.

“It provides for some supervision and the (line of sight) that we like,” Hardt says. “I can stand at certain points in the building, and I can see down multiple hallways at the same time.”

The high school’s central area and four wings will include more than 80 classrooms and learning spaces, two career and technical education classrooms and labs, a culinary kitchen, art and performing arts classrooms, and four full-size gyms.

The school has capacity for up to 1,600 students. However, Hardt says the school initially will open only to grades nine through 11, and about 900 students are expected to attend in the first year, ramping up to more than 1,400 students by 2023.

Ridgeline High School is funded largely through the district’s $129.9 million construction bond, which voters approved in early 2018.

Hardt says the Ridgeline name was chosen from about 300 suggestions because it reflects the views the site affords.