May 17, 2019
Allen Construction has broken ground on San Rafael High School's Madrone-Admin-Cafeteria-Kitchen (MACK) building project.
The construction company began preconstruction activities on the $29 million project, including site evaluation, surveys and set up, in December 2018 before breaking ground in March 2019. The 43,000-square-foot project is expected to take 17 months to complete and will open sometime during the 2020-21 school year.
The project includes the construction of a new two-story building that will consist of administrative offices, a kitchen, general student commons area and classrooms and support spaces for Madrone High School, a continuation high school on the campus of San Rafael High School.
A dramatic glass curtain wall system at the entrance to the common area will serve as a focal point for the project, which is highlighted by 30-foot ceilings, straight edges, modern-style architecture and contemporary design.
While Alten Construction specializes in high school building projects, the San Rafael High School MACK building, as is typical with all of its projects, will have its own personalized design elements and features.
“Our projects are inherently unique,” said Andrew Nortz, vice president of operations for Alten Construction. “They are one-of-a-kind structures, as opposed to reproducing the same design like a housing development.”
Alten Construction will also build a new courtyard and senior deck with stepped concrete seating and a shade structure and a new parking lot, which will include accessible parking spaces and provisions for future EV charging stations, solar structures and a walkway to the new buildings.
“I think this is something the students are really going to appreciate,” said Nortz. “They are going to get little comforts here and there like added parking and a new quad area, as well as the much more significant impact of an entirely new commons area.”
