Originally constructed in 1971, the school sits on 15.6 acres and includes 56,000 square feet of new building space divided into three buildings as well as new ball fields and related amenities. The approximately $25 million project is the sixth, and final, SUSD campus to be rebuilt using a $229 million bond approved by voters in 2016.
Pueblo Elementary, where SUSD’s Spanish dual-language instruction program begins, is the education home of 434 pre-K through 5th grade students.
"The stakeholder visioning committee that guided this rebuild worked tirelessly to ensure that our new facilities reflect the essence of our program offerings and the heart of our school,” said Shelley Hummon, Principal of Pueblo Elementary. “The BWS and McCarthy design and construction team gave great consideration to the voice and mission of our educators and have created a place where learning and inspiration will flourish."
The campus’ three new modern buildings replace six slump block and concrete tilt-up structures and their aged-out HVAC, electrical, and roofing systems. The new administration building includes staff offices and a media center. The multipurpose building hosts fine arts classrooms as well as the cafeteria and gymnasium, and it also features a platform that opens from the interior to an exterior amphitheater.
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The SUSD Governing Board approved the design plan in June 2022; construction began immediately thereafter. With aging infrastructure, campus flooding issues, and challenging student drop-off/pick-up traffic, the design team, construction team, and principal-appointed visioning committee made the unanimous decision to tear down the current buildings and rebuild Pueblo Elementary versus remodeling the campus to better support current needs.
“As a school of choice, the fresh, new, and modern Pueblo will strive to foster diversity, inclusiveness, connectedness, and collaborative learning. Students learn in an environment with natural light, so the thoughtful inclusion of windows creates connections and the easy access to the central courtyard provides access to another supplementary learning environment,” said Sue Gray, Principal with BWS Architects. “Building materials find inspiration in connections between Arizona landscapes and Latin culture. Vibrant colors are featured throughout the interior and exterior environments, integrated into a variety of patterning, textures, and materials as desired by the visioning committee.”
The project team utilized a phased construction that allowed the school to remain operational as construction took place during the 2022-2023 school year.
“The new campus represents the culmination of intensive collaboration that began with the visioning committee coming together back in June 2021 in tandem with our design and construction team and district and school representatives,” said Antonya Williams, Executive Vice President of McCarthy Building Companies. “Working together, this group was pivotal in developing a state-of-the-art, safe, secure learning environment that will be a point of pride for the community and district for years to come. It has been an honor for McCarthy’s Education team to be part of the incredible rebuild of the Pueblo Elementary campus.”
Major subcontractors on the project included RN Electric, McCarthy Plumbing, HVAC & Rough Carpentry, Sun Valley Masonry, Alignment Steel, and Progressive Roofing.
