By Eric Althoff
ST. CROIX FALLS, Wis.鈥擥eneral contracting firm Kraus-Anderson has completed $13.5 million in additions to St. Croix Falls High School, located approximately 50 miles east of Minneapolis just over the Wisconsin border.
The marquee piece of the addition is a 21,000-square-foot fine arts center, which will seat nearly 600 people in its music and performing arts auditorium. The fine arts center will be home to several performances by St. Croix Falls鈥� arts and music programs as well as visiting ensembles to stage musicals, concerts and various other performing arts. Group learning will also be feasible in the performing arts space, thereby freeing up additional space on campus for other purposes. A partnership is being established between the school鈥檚 performing arts center and the city鈥檚 Civic Auditorium.
Other pieces of the addition include a 6,400-square-foot fitness center that will be perfect for group classes and sports events. The space will also be utilized for extracurricular training and provide extra storage for the physical education department.
The third part of the expansion entails a 300-square-foot 鈥渨ash bay鈥� that will be adjacent to the existing garages that service the district鈥檚 buses and official vehicles for maintenance purposes.
The additions were designed by DSGW, based in Duluth, Minn.
鈥淭here is no greater reward than successfully completing a K-12 construction project knowing the end result will have an immediate and long-lasting impact on both the educational and extra-curricular opportunities afforded to all students,鈥� Mike Phillips, Kraus-Anderson鈥檚 project manager for the St. Croix Falls High School project, said in an email sent to 91视频. 鈥淚 am extremely proud of the St. Croix Falls administration, KA鈥檚 project team and DSGW Architects, and cannot wait for the students and community members to experience their new space.鈥�
DSGW鈥檚 other education-related projects include the 66,030-square-foot Duluth Public Schools in Duluth and the 84,940-square-foot Spero Academy in Brooklyn Park.
The St. Croix Falls High School project first broke ground in April 2021. It represents just one part of Kraus-Anderson鈥檚 鈥淪ummer Sprint,鈥� which the contractor pushed through in its bid to complete as much educational construction work as feasible before the winter months mothball such efforts until the spring.
Kraus-Anderson, founded in 1897, offers services in construction management and real estate development. The firm operates from its Minneapolis headquarters but also has offices in Duluth, Bemidji and Rochester in Minnesota, as well as other locations in Milwaukee and Madison in next-door Wisconsin and one in North Dakota鈥檚 capital of Bismarck.
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