Walls going up at new Firelands HS, turn lane planned

HENRIETTA TWP. — Creation of a turning lane has been approved on Vermilion Road, leading into a soon-to-be-built parking lot at the new Firelands High School. Tim Rini of Greenspace Construction said the third lane will start in June and finish before the end of August. It will be paid for entirely by the school system, with no money from Lorain County coffers. Meanwhile, construction of the $23 million high school is running right on schedule now that the weather has broken, Rini said. "The building will start sprouting up. Every week, they'll do another wall, give or take," he said Wednesday, donning a hard hat and showing off the work site. Bricklayers were hard at work on the west wall of the varsity gym, which was chest-high Wednesday. Not much could be seen from the road, but Rini said within a week the gym walls will be about 20 feet high and clearly visible to people driving by. Other workers could be seen digging out dirt where the cafeteria will be built and laying underground electrical conduit. Footers will be completed this week, Rini said. Foundation block will be done and plumbing contractors will start underground water and sanitary sewers next week. About 20 workers are on the Firelands construction site every day. Rini said that number will increase throughout the spring. Ground for the new school was ceremonially broken on Vermilion Road last September, but work really got underway in January. The new building will cover 106,000 square feet and serve ninth through 12th grades. The existing high school will be converted to a middle school, and will connect to the new facility with a shared kitchen and cafeteria. The plan is to cut the ribbon on the new Firelands High School for the 2022-23 academic year. As project manager for Greenspace Construction, Rini recently oversaw work on Amherst's new Powers Elementary School, and is now getting ready to finish construction of Oberlin's new elementary building. His company is also behind construction of several new Elyria schools. "It's what I love to do. It's the coolest thing in the world," he said. "I love my job, and I love coming to work every day." He said it feels good knowing that he's giving generations of Lorain County students new places to learn and grow. Rini also previously served on the Vermilion Board of Education for nine years, and said education is a family undertaking — his father served on the Vermilion school board, and there are several teachers in the family. "It's our culture, our family's culture," he said. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.