Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School - St. Louis, Missouri
By: Frances Putman
Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School , operated by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, is an urban institution, serving primarily low-income to middle-income minority students. While other urban schools may have high drop-out rates and low test scores, Cardinal Ritter has been a shining star. The school graduates 100 percent of its seniors, the majority of whom go on to the colleges of their choice. Since the 1970s, however, the school had operated out of an older structure, which was dated, badly in need of repair, and no longer meeting the needs of the students.
"The campus was in a less-than-optimal location within the city," noted Timothy M. Gunn, project director with Alberici Constructors.
When looking at ways to improve the school, it seemed impractical to keep it in the same location.
Cardinal Ritter desperately needed a new facility, but funds were limited. Constructing a brand-new school seemed like a pipe dream. But, working with the city of St. Louis and local business and civic groups, the dream became a reality.
The city had targeted an area in the middle of downtown for revitalization. Known as the Grand Center Redevelopment Area, it primarily contained abandoned and derelict properties. It was, however, adjacent to the University of St. Louis and not far from the city's cultural center. The idea came about to relocate the school to this area, which would boost the city's revitalization effort and put the school in a better location.
"There was a lot of cooperation in this project-a real win-win situation," said Jay Reiter, marketing director at Alberici Constructors. "The school was an anchor for the cultural area, a nice transition into the residential neighborhood. And, it solved the city's problem of having a site that was unattractive."
In return, the school got help from the city in developing the property, and it also benefits from a close proximity to the university and other cultural opportunities.
Still, getting the project off the ground was not easy. The 18-acre site chosen for the Cardinal Ritter campus included six city blocks, encompassing more than 90 separate parcels of land and containing more than 35 structures that had to be razed. Former occupants included a gas station, auto repair shop and other businesses that had left contamination in the soil. A major environmental clean-up effort was launched. Also, a city street had to be closed, and traffic was re-routed around the campus site.
"There were one or two parcels of land that the school couldn't acquire," Reiter said. "We had to revise the construction schedule accordingly. The campus had to be built around the existing properties."
When construction began on the Cardinal Ritter facility, it became the first new Archdiocesan school built in the city of St. Louis in more than 50 years. In the plans from the beginning was to get the athletic field ready first. Although Cardinal Ritter had fielded a football team for many years, the school had never had its own stadium; it was always the visiting team.
Nearly a year before the school officially opened for students, Cardinal Ritter held its first-ever home football game in its new stadium. The gymnasium was also completed at this time, so the school could host alumni, faculty, financial backers and members of the media at a pre-game barbecue. The event garnered a great deal of publicity and increased interest in the school. This helped increase the school's enrollment and tuition base and significantly boosted fundraising efforts throughout the coming year.
Once completed, the campus included 83,000 square feet of classroom space and administrative and counseling offices, as well as a chapel, library, gymnasium and student common and dining areas. A 140-space parking lot is available for students and staff.
An athletic building containing lockers and restrooms is adjacent to the athletic field, which is equipped for football and track and has space for the future addition of tennis courts. The field features lights, sprinkler and sound systems, bleachers to seat 800, and an electronic scoreboard.
According to Gunn, the facility itself is fairly typical of a high school campus. Materials-like structural masonry, bar joist concrete floors and brick-were chosen for durability and functionality. A standing seam metal roof tops off the library and commons areas.
"It's hard to grasp with bricks and mortar how excited everyone was to have this new school," he said. "Having a first-rate school was a longstanding dream. It was miraculous, infused with a lot of pride and accomplishment."
Reiter believes at least part of the success of the project can be traced to the relationship between the school and the design and construction team. As the construction management team, Alberici came into the project early in the design process. Instead of receiving a pre-made set of design plans from an architect, Alberici was involved in the process from the beginning.
"We were selected as the construction manager and worked with the Archdiocese and the design team to get the project into budget," he said.
Working together, they were able to incorporate cost-saving measures into the design from the start, rather than making changes to the plan later on.
"The quality of the team you choose is critical to achieving goals," Reiter said.
Alberici is a family of companies that offers construction and construction-related services to a variety of industries around the world, www.alberici.com .
Fast Facts
School: Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School
Location: St. Louis , Missouri
Student Body: 330
Grades Served: 9-12
Project Goal: Build a new campus for the school, which had become dilapidated and was no longer functional
Size: 83,000 square feet
Cost: $17.1 million
Challenge: Budget was a big concern. This was an extensive project, which included purchasing 90 separate parcels of land, demolishing more than 30 existing structures, undertaking an environmental contamination clean-up, and relocating public and private utilities.
Solution: The Cardinal Ritter project became a community effort. Since the new school site was part of a revitalization effort by the city of St. Louis , the city provided $1 million in performed work, contracted work, and waived permit fees. Local business and civic groups also provided funding for the project.
