Leone & Keeble Inc., of Spokane, has been awarded a $10.6 million contract to construct a new school that will replace Westview Elementary School, on Spokane's North Side.

The new building will be located on the southeast corner of the current school's lot, at 6104 N. Moore, says Greg Brown, Spokane Public Schools' director of capital projects.

Brown says that the existing kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school, on the northwest corner of the lot, will remain open throughout the 2011-2012 school year while the new school is under construction.

Groundbreaking for the new school is expected to take place next month, Brown says. The district plans to complete the project by August of 2012, in time for teachers and staff to move in before the start of school that September, he says.

The replacement of Westview is one of a number of projects being funded by Spokane Public Schools' 2009 bond, the district says. The estimated total cost of the project is around $19.6 million, Brown says, though the district is still waiting to receive about $7 million it's sought in state matching funds for the project.

The new school will have a total of 30 classrooms, which is a few more than it has now, Brown says. It also will have two stories, compared to the current single-story building. Another feature included is a designated cafeteria space. Students at Westview currently eat lunch in its gymnasium because the building doesn't have a separate eating space, which creates problems if the school needs to have indoor recess periods, Brown says.

A larger parking lot also is planned for the new structure to address current space issues that force some teachers and parent volunteers to park on residential streets surrounding the school, he says.

Westview Elementary was constructed in 1955, and Brown says that with some portable buildings that have since been added, its total size is about 41,000 square feet. The new building will have 58,500 square feet of space and the capacity for 550 students, he says. Currently about 340 students are enrolled at Westview.

"It's not that we have 200 more kids waiting" to get into the school, Brown says. "We have a need to think longer term and perhaps close some older facilities that are too costly to maintain."

He adds that the district will demolish the old Westview building eventually, but plans to use it for other purposes for the next year or so. He says it could be used to accommodate students attending Finch Elementary School, also on the North Side, at 3717 N. Milton, when that structure undergoes an extensive remodel that's expected to be completed in 2014.

Brown says the school board also has accepted four optional projects and has added them to the original scope of work at Westview because Leone & Keeble's bid came in more than $1 million lower than expected.

Those four additions all are associated with obtaining a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification for the new school, which is the district's goal, he says. The alternates include using wood that is certified to meet that standard, and using aluminum instead of copper feeders for the building's electrical system. The contractor also will install a more efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, as well as dual-flush toilets that are designed to save water, Brown says.

ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the new Westview Elementary School.