Antelope Valley Press

AVUHSD remodeling work complete

By JULIE DRAKE Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER — Remodeling work on the Antelope Valley Union High School District’s new headquarters is complete.

The District’s Board of Education unanimously approved, at the Jan. 19 meeting, a Resolution of Acceptance and Notice of Completion for the building, at 176 Holston Drive.

Gary Little Construction Inc. of Lancaster substantially completed the remodel project on Jan. 7 with the exception of minor punch list items. The remodel cost approximately $8.43 million. That includes an eighth change order for $9,511, that the Board approved at the same meeting on a 4-1 vote with member Victoria Ruffin dissenting.

“Gary Little Construction’s the contractor and they did a really good job getting this project completed through the pandemic, with all of the material shortages, COVID outages they had,” Mat Havens, director of Facility Acquisition and Development, said during a tour of the facility in December. “They really worked with the District in achieving our goal of getting this completed on time.”

The building has separate public and secured areas. One of the public areas includes a conference room. There are separate entrances for food services and student services, which both deal with the public.

The offices are accented with desert colors such as yellow, blue and orange. Each assistant superintendent will have an office in his or her respective department. The lighting throughout the building is LED with electronic controls. There are multiple conference rooms and collaboration areas. Employees will also get natural lighting, which they do not have at the current office.

It is not clear when the District will move into the building.

The District purchased the former call center building, on 12.31 acres in the Lancaster Business Park, in March 2018 for approximately $7.7 million. The build

ing was originally built in 2002. Approximately 49,000 square feet of the 101,265 total square feet is under lease to Los Angeles County.

The new building will bring all of the district’s departments under one roof to better serve students, parents and the community, as well as improve collaboration and communication among district staff.

The District’s Board of Education will get a new boardroom at least twice the size of the existing one. It will have a separate entrance for the public on the western end of the building.

The current District office, at 44811 North Sierra Hwy., was dedicated in 1985. The building used to be a Shopping Bag supermarket, according to one employee who remembers going there with

her mother.

The District shared the space with the former Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery. It took over the whole building after the re-branded Lancaster Museum of Art and History moved to its current

location on Lancaster Boulevard in May 2012.

Once the District is moved in to its new headquarters, it will work to sell the current District office.

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2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

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