Local 86 Iron Workers, Auburn School District staff, school board members and others celebrated the milestone of the topping-off ceremony at Terminal Park Elementary on Nov. 15.

This traditional ceremony marks the installation of the final iron beam in a new building.

Terminal Park, which was built in 1945, is being rebuilt on the existing site.

“Terminal Park Elementary was one of Auburn’s first schools,” said Auburn School Board member Laura Theimer. “It can now continue for 100 years more within this wonderful new building. I am so proud to live in a community that supports public education and all of our children. Go Tigers!”

The $49 million school will be two stories tall, and offer a synthetic playfield, secured perimeter fencing and space for 650 students. The new school opens in the fall of 2023.

The Terminal Park project is the eighth and final project funded by the $456,056,000 Building for Learning bond that members of the Auburn community passed in November 2016 to replace six aging schools and build two new elementary schools. The timeline for completing all of the projects was about eight years, and the district is on track to make that happen.

Terminal Park students will attend Olympic Middle School as an interim facility for one year while school construction is in process. NAC Architecture was selected to design and administer construction of Terminal Park.

To date, the bond has replaced Chinook Elementary, built in 1963; Dick Scobee Elementary, built in 1954; Lea Hill Elementary, built in 1965; Olympic Middle School, built in 1957; and Pioneer Elementary, built in 1959.

The two new elementary schools, Willow Crest Elementary and Bowman Creek Elementary, were built to provide increased classroom space.