Portola Springs School to Break Ground

IRVINE, CA—Construction begins September 25 on the new Portola Springs Elementary School campus at 12100 Portola Springs here in the Villages of Irvine, Irvine Unified School District reports. The school is currently operating from an interim site, occupying the previously shuttered Westwood Basics Plus School for one year while the permanent, state-of-the-art facility is being built.

The new campus is projected to open in August 2016. In the meantime, the school's staff is prepping its temporary home, where it recently held a tour for incoming students and their families. Westwood Basics Plus, located at 1 Liberty, closed in 2009 as students and staff transitioned to a newer campus in Irvine's Stonegate village. In recent years, the facility has housed district programs and served as a training center for staff, according to the district.

Transforming Westwood back into a functioning elementary school required a considerable amount of work, but Principal Heather Phillips sees some advantages to building a school community prior to populating a new campus. “I was really excited about having the opportunity to be at the interim site. I think it really gives us the option and the gift of time in that we can focus on building a community with our students, our parents and our staff because we're not focused so much on the facility, but rather the relationship part. If we build that strong foundation, when we move to the new facility, that will be the icing on top of the cake.”

Information on the total estimated construction costs for the new school was not readily available from the district.

As GlobeSt.com reported last month, following its $2.8-billion merger with WRECO, residential developer TRI Pointe has purchased 649 new lots in seven communities in markets across the country. Among those were 258 lots in Southern California, including 112 lots in Portola Springs to build Cariz at Portola Springs, which debuted last month and will contain attached homes with seven distinctive floor plans priced from the mid-$400,000s.