KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Kingsport City Schools officials revealed plans for transforming the former Sullivan North High School building into a new middle school.
The old Sullivan North has been sitting empty since the county consolidated it, Sullivan South, and Sullivan Central into the new West Ridge High School. Kingsport acquired the building in July.
The city plans to renovate the building, which will become John Sevier Middle School. The current Sevier Middle will become Jackson Elementary School. The city will close the current Jackson building, which is 100 years old.
Sullivan North was built in 1980.
“In Kingsport, our buildings, on average, are about 70 years old,” Kingsport City Schools Assistant Superintendent Andy True said. “So this will be one of our newer facilities when we move into it. But it is, when you think about a 40-year-old building, just the natural life span of things like HVAC units and roofs, those are the kind of things and time frames that you have to look at replacing.”
On Thursday, school officials revealed renderings of the future Sevier Middle School.
“It’s exciting to be able to really get to the point where we can look at things like renderings, like floor plans and see kind of how those needs have been addressed over the course of the design process and then what that could look like when we eventually move into that space,” True said.
The next phase of the renovation project will be putting the project out for bids.
The projected opening date of the school is August 2023.
