High School to House 750 Arts Discipline Students

McCarthy was recently awarded the contract for the HSPVA project.

HOUSTON—The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) provides gifted young artists highly specialized and rigorous training to prepare them for the intense competition they will meet in the professional arts world. McCarthy Building Companies Inc. was recently awarded the contract for the HSPVA project located at 790 Austin St. The replacement school is designed to house 750 students focusing in the arts disciplines including acting, writing, music, fine arts and dance. The five-story, 200,000-square-foot high school will include an 800-seat theatre, a 300-seat black box theatre, rehearsal rooms, a cafeteria and two floors of underground parking. The high school will be a part of the Vanguard Neighborhood program, a K-12 student program designed for gifted and talented students who excel in general intellectual ability and who possess creative thinking and leadership abilities. The program provides a learning curriculum that is differentiated in depth, complexity and pacing. Located in the middle of downtown just three blocks away from Minute Maid Park , the project will cover the entire city block which will pose several logistical and construction challenges for the McCarthy team. The two floors of underground parking must be excavated, shored and all excess materials hauled off, having no available storage capacity around the building or on adjacent blocks. With no staging area for materials, deliveries will require pinpoint scheduling, offloading and then placement into the structure. McCarthy Houston division president, Jim Stevenson , tells GlobeSt.com: “The city of Houston is rich in culture and the arts and we are pleased to build a facility designed to educate the city’s next generation of artists. Building the new replacement school in the middle of downtown presents a challenge because we are in a densely populated area, but we are confident we will complete this project safely and efficiently. Working on challenging projects brings out the best in McCarthy.” The seven-story building, which includes two floors of parking is scheduled to be completed in September 2018. With weather being a major factor in the completion of the project, commencing the excavation and bringing the structure back to grade will be critical to the success of the project. McCarthy has a long-standing history of building complex, architecturally significant projects in the entertainment and arts industry. In addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston , McCarthy’s Texas portfolio of entertainment and institutional projects includes the AT&T Performing Arts Center , Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas and the Dallas City Performance Hall , among others. “Since 1971, HSPVA has had a tremendous impact on young artists, and McCarthy is gratified to be a part of something that will continue to mentor and develop future generations of artists,” said Stevenson. “With extensive experience building complex entertainment venues and educational facilities, our team is excited to work on a project that combines the two and showcases our expertise.”