CARIBOU, Maine — A massive red crane visible from more than a mile away marks the site of the future Caribou Community School, a pre-kindergarten-eight facility scheduled for completion in August 2020. Contractors from Bowman Constructors are erecting the steel framework using the huge crane.
The Caribou Community School construction site now features a massive red crane visible from over a mile away to assist in erecting steel for the new PreK-8 school. (Chris Bouchard | Aroostook Republican)
The new school will house all pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students in the area, replacing Hilltop Elementary, Teague Park Elementary and Caribou Middle schools. Both Teague Park and Caribou Middle schools will be demolished after the new school opens in August 2020. Hilltop Elementary School recently was sold to a group of investors who plan to convert the building into a senior living facility.
Project subcontractor Soderberg Construction is finishing up the demolition of both the Caribou Learning Center on Bennett Drive and of the Sincock Administrative Building on Main Street, which will make room to relocate Teague Park. Since the new facility is being built over the current Teague Park, which is a city park adjacent to the elementary school of the same name, officials will need to move the park to land of equivalent value as part of the project’s stipulations.
The Caribou Community School construction site now features a massive red crane visible from over a mile away to assist in erecting steel for the new PreK-8 school. (Chris Bouchard | Aroostook Republican)
While lead contractor Bowman Constructors of Newport paused their work in late 2018 for the winter, their work will continue through next winter and into the scheduled completion date of August 2020.
Tim Doak, superintendent of RSU 39 consisting of Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm, said in April that Caribou residents can expect to see trucks from Quebec arriving in the city to deliver two to three loads of steel a week.
Once contractors finish the frame, the next step for the project will be to work on the building’s masonry and siding.
