Owen‑Ames‑Kimball Company (O‑A‑K) Florida, a preeminent general contractor with a longstanding presence in Southwest Florida, reached a construction milestone with the raising of the first tilt-wall panels for Lee County’s newest middle school on Sunrise Boulevard in Lehigh Acres. The panels for both Building 1 and Building 2 are expected to be completed in approximately two weeks. Known as Middle School “MM”, the building is on schedule to open in August 2021.
The 164,000 square foot facility on 42.53 acres has a total construction cost of nearly $43,000,000. The site will accommodate Elementary School “J” in the future and the schools will share an access road, bus loop, and central energy plant. Middle School “MM” will have a student station capacity of 1,360.
The gymnasium building will serve a dual purpose as a hurricane shelter and will be built to Code Council/National Storm Shelter Association Standard for Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC-500) requirements, and the cafeteria will be equipped for emergency power to help supply services during an emergency event. The school will include updated security measures including a single point of entry access control and upgraded hardware on all classroom doors.
O‑A‑K project manager is Alesha Watchowski and the lead site superintendent is Tim Harkins. The project architect is RG Architects, P.A. Johnson Engineering is the civil engineer and TLC Engineering Solutions is the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer. The structural engineer is TRC Worldwide Engineering.
