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PROVO -- A new $44 million elementary school in Provo is expected to welcome students in just a few months.
Wasatch Elementary School has sat for 75 years on 900 East across from Brigham Young University.
After the first of the year, it will move to its new home a few blocks east on Locust Lane – on land the school district acquired in a land swap with BYU.
Construction workers were busy Tuesday working to finish the new school, which has a somewhat unusual look.
"This property was basically empty property on a hill," Caleb Price, communications director at the Provo School District, said. "Some unique work had to be done just to make the property level and safe."
That led to the construction of giant retaining walls which look kind of like a fortress. But Price said the new school will be a "new, modern building," and will be a better fit for the roughly 600 students that will go there.
"We're excited for it to open," Price said. "We're excited to be able to provide this building for our students."
But it's also bittersweet saying goodbye to the old Wasatch School, which has served students since 1949 (including the KSL journalist reporting this story).
In 2021, the school district traded the old school to nearby BYU in exchange for the land where the new school was being built.
There is no word yet on future plans for the old Wasatch property, a BYU spokesperson told KSL TV Tuesday.
Down the street from the new school, Eva Bergius has watched the dusty and noisy construction for many months.
"It's great to have a new school," Bergius said. "I used to be a teacher, so I love the school environment."
But she's trying to get used to its unusual look.
"It's a monster," Bergius said, laughing. "A big monster."
Still, she plans to walk through the new school when it's finished, and she hopes for the best as she gets used to having it down the street.
"It will be good when they are done," she said.
The new Wasatch Elementary School will likely open in January during the middle of the school year, Price said.
