Edmonton’s Centre High moving out of Boardwalk building

Centre High in downtown Edmonton is on the move.

Edmonton Public Schools has leased a portion of the MacEwan University’s Alberta College campus, on the corner of MacDonald Drive and 100 Street.

The Centre High campus will move from its current location in the Boardwalk building to the Alberta College site in time for the 2020-2021 school year, the school board said in a media release.

“That lease ends at the end of the 2019-2020 school year and so we were looking for a new facility that will allow for some room to grow,” Edmonton Public School Board assistant superintendent Lorne Parker said Thursday.

Centre High offers secondary and post-secondary courses, along with high school upgrading opportunities. More than 2,500 students are currently enrolled at Centre High and Parker said its population is growing at about the same rate as overall enrollment within Edmonton Public Schools — three per cent.

The Alberta College building is currently home to MacEwan University’s School of Continuing Education and the Conservatory of Music. For the foreseeable future, Edmonton Public Schools said Centre High will share space with the Conservatory of Music, which will continue operating in its existing space on the fourth and fifth floors of the building.

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The space Centre High is moving into is about 100,000-square-feet, which is comparable to its current location. However, Parker said there is about 50,000-square-feet of additional space that will become available to Centre High once the Conservatory of Music moves on to MacEwan’s City Centre Campus.

“This will give us an opportunity to extend our programming and offer more opportunities for our students,” Parker said.

While the building is nearly ready to use, Edmonton Public Schools said minor modifications will be required to ensure the space is large enough for Centre High students. The campus has more than 50 classrooms, computer labs, a library and a cafeteria.

The move comes as MacEwan continues to consolidate its operations into its City Centre Campus.