Projects, including scoreboard replacements are underway at Newport-Mesa schools

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is finishing up some smaller projects around its campuses, including the final installations of scoreboards at three of its high schools and other maintenance as the first half of the school year comes to a close, according to a recent update released Tuesday.

Scoreboard replacement and installation at Estancia’s Jim Scott Stadium, Costa Mesa’s baseball and Corona del Mar’s softball fields are expected to be completed before the end of this year.

Additionally, the district said its other maintenance projects — such as exterior painting and new flooring — were completed during the summer off-season and rooftop replacements at Mariners Elementary School are also expected to be completed before the end of the year. All elementary schools now have digital marquees.

The district still has a number of larger projects in the wings, such as the Estancia theater project, which saw some legal pushback earlier this year from the city of Costa Mesa when the city contended the project did not undergo adequate environmental review.

District officials said in December construction was expected to begin in the fall of this year and the building would open in 2023, but work has been delayed to early 2022 and the expectation now is that the $32-million theater will be completed in 2024. The project is expected to include a 350-seat theater, black box, lobby and support spaces.

Initial renderings of the project were presented in October 2019. Plans have been approved by the Division of State Architect, but a construction contractor for the project has not yet been identified by the district’s board of trustees.

Newport Harbor’s aquatics will also see upgrades next summer by way of the addition of shade structures and the replacement of bleachers and existing sports lighting. The district is also expected to modernize the existing courtyard within the high school’s home arts building.

It is unclear where student athletes and other aquatics programs — as the city also uses Newport Harbor’s and Corona del Mar’s pools — will be relocated in the interim as construction is not expected to finish until the winter of 2022-23.

Currently in the design phase are the Ensign Intermediate student gathering area, which the district’s board of trustees approved in May last year, and the expansion of the sidewalks and landscape improvements at Corona del Mar High School and Ensign.

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