CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Independent School District is confident that the construction timeline for the new Carroll High School campus will not be affected by its decision to change the project's location.
"It may have set us back maybe a month or two," said CCISD Construction Project Manager John Dibala. "But I think we're still OK on our timeline, even though we changed locations."
The site was changed over concerns of a potential crash onto the property of a Navy plane from nearby Cabaniss Field.
The district originally spent $8 million to buy a parcel of land near the intersection of Saratoga Boulevard and Weber Road for the new school. Citing its location in a potential crash zone, Navy officials recommended the district to build elsewhere. In April, CCISD announced it was changing the new school's location, and since then, the district has purchased a tract of land a block down Saratoga, at Kostoryz Road.
Through it all, Dibala and his coworkers kept working on the new school's design.
"It was very stressful at times, but we rolled with the punches," Dibala said. "We do what we need to do to get it done."
What's still unclear is what the school district will do with the original parcel of land. CCISD wouldn't talk on-camera about real-estate transactions citing a "desire to protect ongoing negotiations," but the district did release a statement.
"Because the new Mary Carroll High School will not be located at Weber and Saratoga, the CCISD Board of Trustees may consider this site as surplus property and look at options to divest its interest in the land," the statement reads. "If approved, the district could conclude this process within the coming months, and anticipates doing so without incurring financial loss."
There's another real-estate transaction that must take place before the entire Carroll High School project can be completed. The district doesn't yet own all the land it needs at Saratoga and Kostoryz. Once again, CCISD responded with a statement.
"CCISD has acquired the largest of the three tracts, which encompasses the area in which the new Mary Carroll High School building will be located," the statement reads. "The district is on-schedule to begin this phase of construction later this fall. We anticipate acquiring the remaining two tracts within the next several months. The new campus is scheduled to open in August 2022."
