Tampa Heights Magnet School Wraps Remarkable Restoration

By SCN Staff

TAMPA, Fla.—January 6, 2021— On a compact school campus in one of Tampa, Florida’s oldest neighborhoods, JE Dunn Construction has completed the restoration of the Tampa Heights Elementary Magnet School building, destroyed by fire in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

Bridging the building’s 100-year history and architectural significance with the elements of modern school building design, the $21 million project delivered flexible classrooms and common spaces and other learning environments created to promote student interaction and collaboration. The project salvaged and reused the existing brick façade and constructed a new structure within the existing footprint. FleischmanGarcia is the architect of record.

The project was completed in November 2020 and officially reopened on January 4, 2021 with classes resuming to welcome students and faculty.

With a three-story staircase at its center, the 53,000-square-foot new building — was designed to meet modern Building and Fire Code standards —among its features are a “learning corridor” with display areas, seating and writable surfaces, as well as dining area adaptable as a multipurpose room. The facility has 398 students learning stations.

JE Dunn Construction, founded in 1924, is one of the largest general building contractors in the United States, providing construction management services through 23 offices nationwide, and self-perform services in select locations. The company has performed work in Florida since 1989, and re-established a Florida office in 2015, in Tampa.