The Wellpinit School District, located on the Spokane Indian Reservation northwest of Spokane, has awarded an $18 million contract to a joint venture set up by two Spokane companies to modernize a building shared by the district's high school and middle school.

WLK Joint Venture, owned by Walker Construction Inc. and Leone & Keeble Inc., is expected to begin work on the project in April. The work will be done in three phases, with an expected final completion date of August 2012, says Rusty Pritchard of the Spokane office of Hill International Inc. and one of the project managers.

The project was designed with separate phases of construction to allow the combined school to keep operating throughout the course of the project, Pritchard says.

Matt Walker, another manager of the project from Hill International, says updates to the 57,000-square-foot building will include replacing and upgrading the mechanical and electrical systems, and modernizing classroom and administrative space. The project also will include replacing and repairing part of the roof and exterior of the building, Walker says.

The building formerly housed the district's elementary school and high school classes, while middle school students had been located in a building about a mile away. Before school started this fall, the district moved the kindergarten through fifth-grade classes to the former middle school building and grades six through eight to the building that will be remodeled. The former middle school building was constructed in 1923 and was renovated six years ago, the district says.

Upgrades to the complex that the high school and middle school now share also will include an expansion of its athletic fields and track, as well as a reorganization of the parking and drop-off areas, says the district's request for proposals.

Walker says the project doesn't include any additions to the building, which was constructed in 1984.

The Wellpinit School District has received a $12.2 million state grant, a $4.3 million federal grant, and $1.6 million in school district matching funds to pay for the project, says Tim Ames, the school district's superintendent.

Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, is providing the design work and construction documents for the project.

The Wellpinit School District serves 570 students who live on the Spokane Indian Reservation.