What You Need to Know:��

• The new 46,500-square-foot Early College High School facility is complete in Round Rock, Texas, expanding the program’s permanent capacity to 500 students.��

• The $31 million project replaces portable classrooms with a��consolidated��campus featuring 14 classrooms, labs, collaboration areas and indoor and outdoor athletics and dining space.��

• HPM��provided preconstruction, project��management��and quality control across the project lifecycle, from design through closeout.��

• The campus is tied to Round Rock ISD’s 2018 bond program, and HPM says it is supporting��additional��work tied to the district’s 2024 bond program.��

Learn More��

ROUND ROCK, Texas — Construction was recently��completed a $31 million Early College High School facility for Round Rock Independent School District in Round Rock, Texas, outside Austin, moving the program from portable buildings into a new permanent campus for the Spring 2026 semester. The community celebrated the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 13.

The 46,500-square-foot building is designed to support the district’s early college model, which combines high school instruction with college-level coursework and allows participating students to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.��

The project increases enrollment capacity to 500 students and��consolidates��instructional and��student-support��spaces under one roof.��The facility is��located on Austin Community College’s Round Rock campus, providing��students��access to nearby higher-education resources.��

Program elements include 14 classrooms, eight study rooms and three labs, along with a large��common area��and an administration suite, HPM said. Student amenities include a cafeteria with a 12-by-8-foot��video wall, an indoor gym, an outdoor basketball court, and outdoor dining and study areas.��

HPM��provided preconstruction services, project management and quality control for the build and managed the effort from design through closeout. Bartlett Cocke served as general contractor,��with��O’Connell Robertson��serving��as��architect.��Rabaa Kistner��provided��geotechnical and construction materials testing services.��

“This facility��represents��more than just classrooms and labs.��It’s��a space where students can explore,��grow��and prepare for their futures. Collaborating with the Round Rock ISD to bring this vision to life reinforces our shared commitment to strengthening learning environments that serve students and the community for years to come,” said Denish��Sonani, senior manager of design and construction at HPM.��

The project is part of Round Rock ISD’s 2018 bond program, which the district’s voters approved to fund new facilities,��renovations��and infrastructure improvements. HPM��will continue��to support the��district through its 2024 bond program and is in the design phase for more than 15 projects that will address upcoming campus enhancements and infrastructure needs.��

Attribution: This article is based on information provided by HPM in a Jan. 16,��2026��project completion announcement and an HPM project update dated May 16, 2024.��

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AUSTIN, Tex.—A building serving as part of the Austin Community College’s Rio Grande Campus has transitioned from a high school to college campus over its century-plus in the Texas capital city. Following a recent $59 million upgrade, the school is a more able home for 21st century learners.

Architects Studio8 Architects and Overland Partners have re-envisioned the building, while carefully maintaining the building’s historical architecture and original design elements and artworks. Working with Bartlett Cocke General Contractors, the architects burnished the Elgin-Butler golden bricks on the exterior facade while modern energy-efficient windows were installed that matched the original frames. Meanwhile, the lowest level of the building was refashioned to allow for an all-new street entrance, and a new roof was added to better protect the building.

On the exterior, the campus now features two enclosed courtyards. Elsewhere on the campus, the contractors have fashioned the ACCelerator Lab, a center for instruction, group activities and research. The contractors also restored the campus’s theater, which is now home to an Army training center and collaboration with the school.

Ground was broken in August 2017. The designers and contractors eventually added 8,650 square feet of educational space to the 150,000-square-foot campus.

Sustainability elements that won the project LEED Platinum status include utilizing recycled water from the city of Austin and applying a MERV 13 filtration system that provides energy savings and delivers cleaner indoor air. In addition to the LEED Platinum designation, the ACC project has been recognized with an Austin Energy Green Building four-star rating.

“Breathing new life into this iconic and cherished community asset, which has supported students for more than a century, ensures ACC Rio Grande’s continued positive impact on future generations of students,” Adam Bush, Overland Partners principal on the project, said in a statement to ���سԹ�. “It was exciting and deeply rewarding to play a part in bringing renewed vibrancy to the historic Rio Grande campus and strengthening ACC’s goals for transformational educational outcomes and student success.”

Added Robert Byrnes at Studio8 Architects: “Integrating state-of-the-art systems into a century-old ACC building while celebrating its historic character was a challenging puzzle for the design team; the solution resulted in a welcoming, light-filled environment for learning that will support ACC’s mission for the next century.”

Scott Stites, educational facilities market leader at Bartlett Cocke, said his firm commissioned a complete laser scan of the building, which allowed the construction manager to solve some problems in the computer before opening up any walls at the ACC jobsite. This saved some four months for the project timeline, he estimates.

“A major project hurdle was the integration of modern climate control and ventilation into a building originally designed to be heated with a coal-fired boiler and ventilated by opening windows,” added Stites. “Working together during the design phase, the AE/CM team was able to develop a strategy where new mechanical equipment was distributed evenly between rooftop locations and mechanical rooms located in newly created sub-basements in the newly enclosed lightwell courtyards. The reduced rooftop interventions helped meet the City of Austin’s Historical Commission’s expectations for exterior interventions that would deviate from the building’s appearance over the last century.”

“With our project teams, we are reinventing a priceless educational asset in Austin’s urban core, with careful restoration of the 100-year-old main building that features advanced, flexible learning environments for 21st century learning,” said ACC Chancellor Dr. Richard Rhodes. “This project honors the campus’s past and boldly embraces the future.”

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