HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The first stage of construction started Wednesday for the newest high school in Hillsborough County.
- Construction begins on Hillsborough's newest high school
- New school being built in south Hillsborough County
- High school to open in August of 2020
The school, which is the first new high school being built in the district in over 10 years, will be located at 10650 County Road 672 in Riverview. Three thousand students will be enrolled in the new high school that will be over 238,000 square feet.
District planners say, based on their studies, that Riverview, Ruskin, and Apollo Beach are the fastest growing areas in Hillsborough County. Students who currently live in south Hillsborough County go to East Bay High School and Lennard High School. Lennard is already at 125 percent of its capacity with 24 portables and 900 new students expected to enroll over the next few years.
"Growth has come back and now it's busting at the seams. We've put additions on a lot of schools but we cannot grow our schools any larger than they are, so we're building a brand new high school," Lorraine Duffy-Suaruz with Hillsborough County Schools said.
The school will cost $70 million to build, which it took three years for the district to raise the money. The school will be funded entirely through impact fees from new home construction.
The new campus, which has not been named yet, will open in August of 2020.
The next step in the process will be considering the boundaries for the school.