McKissick Associates Begins Design of High School Campus on Converted Hospital Property

Reading School District to start $60 million conversion of St. Joseph's

July 31, 2006

The St. Joseph's complex is currently an actively functioning hospital and will remain so until the hospital's new facility is completed and operations are relocated, at which time the school district will begin converting the facility for educational use. The report provided to the Reading school district from McKissick Associates outlined several possible plans of action which were submitted to the school board for review.

We presented options which included a mixed campus use of elementary and middle schools with sports field use by the high school, and a complete high school campus use with district administration offices. Several programmatic building sizes were considered. For each program development option, we looked at the costs and benefits of using some or all of the existing facilities on the site as well as the option of complete demolition with construction of entirely new facilities.

Reading has given the go ahead for a combination of renovation, demolition and new construction that will house 2,850 - 9th and 10th grade students. The district is looking to relieve extreme capacity needs that currently exist at the high school, a building with the capacity to hold a maximum of 3,000 students and yet currently has an enrollment of 4,700 students, creating an obvious housing crisis.

The Reading school district is attempting to work with the city in an ongoing effort to preserve the architectural heritage of Reading and is pleased with the proposed plan which includes renovations to the existing chapel and bell tower (both built in 1884) as well as plans to save the facades and architectural details from the older sections of the structure. These plans include retaining and renovating 170,000 square feet of the existing building, demolishing 200,000 square feet and building 160,000 square feet of new construction.