Exclusive look inside the first Tri-Cities high school to be built in 15 years

The contours of Sageview High School are beginning to take shape 44 weeks into construction, just as contractors near the project’s halfway point.

Classrooms, study areas, hallways, offices, restrooms and the building’s library and theater are coming to life as crews install roofing, drywall, HVAC systems and wiring, and begin painting walls inside the two-story, 300,000-square-foot building.

Lights for the campus’ athletic fields have been installed, but turf is nowhere to be found for the football, soccer, baseball, softball or track and field teams that will soon play on them.

The tennis and pickleball courts — as well as the parking lots — are expected to be paved in the coming days and weeks.

Roof trusses were recently installed over Sageview’s large gymnasium.

It’s here that John Weatherby, Pasco School District’s construction project manager, puts into perspective the project’s gargantuan nature.

“The idea of the gym was to fit the whole student body in here,” Weatherby said. “So we’ll have 2,000 seats.”

Pasco School District administrators and the Tri-City Herald toured the Sageview High School construction site Tuesday for a progress update and to see how the Tri-Cities eighth comprehensive high school was coming along.

It’s the newest to be built since Chiawana High opened in 2009.

The exclusive visit also serves as an early look at one of the projects being funded by a 21-year, $195.5 million capital bond measure passed by voters in 2023.

That bond also will pay for a new alternative high school, Orion High, in east Pasco; various athletic field and facility improvements at Pasco High; career and technology modernizations at both existing high schools and to buy land for future schools.

Sageview’s turnkey price will cost more than $185 million. District taxpayers will pay about $140 million of that as Washington state expects to contribute $45 million.

“As we witness the construction of Sageview High School, I am deeply grateful to the Pasco community for their steadfast support of the February 2023 bond,” Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney said in a statement.

“These new schools signify more than just brick and mortar; they represent our commitment to providing optimal learning environments, alleviating overcrowding, and expanding crucial programs and extracurricular opportunities for our students,” she said.

Sageview High School

The district’s third comprehensive high school, at 6091 Burns Road, is still set to open in fall 2025. It sits on a 65-acre campus and will serve 2,000 students.

Its construction remains on time and on budget.

Sageview will house 82 classrooms, administrative suites, an athletic wing, a library and a 650-seat indoor theater-auditorium.

More than 1,400 tons of steel and 13,000 cubic yards of concrete will be used in the school’s construction.

About 23,000 books have been ordered for its new state-of-the-art library. The school will also play host to a unique agriculture-focused career program.

Compared to Chiawana High School, located 3 miles south, Sageview’s campus is about the same size but it’ll boast a building that’s 35,000 square feet smaller.

Sageview is being built by Fowler General Construction, the Richland-based company behind several new and recent school rebuilds, including Kennewick High School.

Weatherby, who serves as the liaison between Pasco and Fowler, says the project has been painless in its first 10 months. A mild winter allowed construction to continue on time, and there have been very few hiccups.

“It’s kind of a regular school. There’s nothing special about it,” he said. “So far, it’s gone very smooth. Fowler, our general contractor, is doing an awesome job and keeping (the project) on track.”

When it opens, Sageview High School will provide immediate relief to Chiawana and Pasco High School, the state’s largest and sixth-largest high schools, by enrollment.

It also will serve as a much-needed focal point for neighborhoods that are expanding into north Pasco.

New alternative high school

Ground work is currently underway at an east Pasco lot that will soon house the new career and college academy, Orion High School.

The new school will exclusively serve 600 Pasco School District students, who will graduate workforce-ready with credentials, hands-on experience and industry certifications.

The two-story, 65,000-square-foot building will be at the corner of Salt Lake Street and Utah Avenue.

The school will cost nearly $38 million to build. The district is not receiving any state match for this building.

Fowler was awarded the bid to construct the school last month, and Design West was recently selected to engineer it.

Pasco is planning a groundbreaking for Orion High sometime in June 2025.

“Building a small innovative high school will help relieve the overcrowding at our other high schools. If we add only a comprehensive high school, we would need to begin adding portable classrooms within a year,” district staff say.