Saxony Lutheran construction aims for November

Saxony Lutheran High School's permanent home is on the brink of realization.

A 40-acre site off Interstate 55 near Fruitland shows signs of brick, concrete and steel burgeoning into a 42,000-square-foot building. On Tuesday, workers placed a 10-foot-tall stainless-steel cross on the chapel's roof, one of the first physical indicators of the building's future inhabitants.

If construction stays on schedule, Saxony Lutheran will have a home to call its own by November.

"When you drive out there now, you see what the complete shell looks like," said Bob Hecht, who serves on the school building committee. "Every day, there's more progress. It's exciting."

Hecht said water, gas and utilities have already been run to the site. Inside the building, work is being done on plumbing, electricity, heating and air-conditioning systems.

The school's capital campaign, dubbed Christ the Cornerstone, has raised $2.13 million of the overall $4.5 million goal for the building project, said school treasurer Todd Petzoldt.

"Most of us have never really done anything like this before, so we didn't know what to expect," Petzoldt said. "But we're very pleased at the way it's going."

Officials say they hope to move into the new building in November. Classes would move from the current St. Andrew Lutheran Church site in the second semester of next school year.

Brockmiller Construction Co. of Farmington, Mo., is building the school, which will hold 150 students when complete. Construction is taking place in two phases.

The first phase will include 14 classrooms, worship and athletic space. As enrollment grows, additional classrooms will be added as part of phase two. When both phases are complete, the school will be able to hold 400 students.

Saxony Lutheran opened in the fall of 2000. In 2003, the school finished paying off the 40-acre parcel of land near Fruitland and broke ground on the new building in May 2003.

cclark@semissourian.com

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