Shive-Hattery to design new Cedar Rapids elementary schools

CEDAR RAPIDS — Designing the new Hoover and Van Buren elementary school buildings will be Shive-Hattery, an architecture and engineering firm in Cedar Rapids.

The Cedar Rapids school board Monday approved a $4.1 million agreement with Shive-Hattery to act as architect for the two projects, projected to open to students in August 2027.

“I’m really looking forward to not only making sure we have top-tier learning environments, but that they feel like home for our teachers and students,” said Kaitlin Byers, a Cedar Rapids school board member.

Byers was on a committee of nine people including parents, teachers, principals and district officials that chose between five architecture firms for the project, she said. A scoring guide was used to rate and evaluate all firms.

The schools will be constructed adjacent to the current structures — Hoover at 4141 Johnson Ave. NW and Van Buren at 2525 29th St. SW. The exiting schools will remain open during construction. Then the buildings will be demolished after the new schools are completed. The cost of each school is estimated to be $30 million.

Hoover and Van Buren elementary schools are the next elementary schools to be replaced under the district’s facility plan. The projects are funded by SAVE — Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, an existing statewide sales tax allocated to districts based on certified enrollment.

Over the last few years, the district has opened three new elementary schools — Trailside, Maple Grove and West Willow.

Hoover and Van Buren have seen large increases in their student bodies in recent years and have exceeded suggested enrollment capacity, even building temporary walls in classrooms and common areas to create more learning spaces.

Hoover now uses four portable classrooms on site. Hoover could see an additional 24 students — enough to add a class size — in the next few years.

In the next 10 years, Van Buren could see an additional 100 students added to its attendance boundary because of planned housing developments in the area, district officials have said.

Enrollment at Van Buren this year is about 466 students, and Hoover is about 416 students — well above their suggested enrollment caps of 370 students and 320 students, respectively. The areas of Cedar Rapids where the schools are located are projected to continue to see population growth.

Shive-Hattery also is working with the district to create a facility plan that aims to address needs in all Cedar Rapids schools and guide planning to take a general obligation bond referendum to voters, possibly in November 2025.

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