Fort Collins, CO – The Neenan Company has broken ground on a 91,000-square-foot high school replacement facility for Colorado Early Colleges Fort Collins (CECFC), with a planned completion in August. The Neenan Company is redeveloping the former Advanced Energy industrial building on Innovation Drive in Fort Collins in order for the tuition-free charter school to relocate into an expanded space accommodating its rapidly growing student base.
Since its start in 2012, enrollment at CECFC has grown by an average of 42.4 percent each year, now serving 900 students from across Northern Colorado. It is the top school in Northern Colorado working with all students grades 9-12 to capitalize on the opportunity to earn an associate degree at multiple colleges at no cost to families.
The remodeled facility will provide an additional 66,000 square feet of space for CECFC – almost four times the size of the high school’s former building. The remodeled one-story facility will house more than 30 teaching spaces, four science labs, art and music rooms, a gym, bookstore, tutoring center, full health clinic and 500-seat auditorium.
Several open study spaces will also be available throughout the school to provide a college-like atmosphere. This will accommodate the college programs taught in the school through Front Range Community College and Aims Community College, and appeal to students during breaks between classes, which are designed into schedules as an added element of post-secondary readiness.
“We can’t express enough the impact that an expanded space will play on our students’ continued growth,” said Sandi Brown, head of school for CECFC. “The high school serves as a vehicle for our students’ continued success. The classrooms and common areas have been designed to empower our students to fulfill our mission in exceptional ways.”
Image courtesy of The Neenan Company
