What does $61 million buy? A new school on Lady’s Island due to new students
Editor’s note: The original version of this story said the budget for the school was $76 million. Beaufort County School District says the budget is about $61 million.
A $61 million middle school on Lady’s Island — which voters approved in a referendum a year-and-a-half ago — took another step forward Tuesday when the Beaufort City Council rezoned the land. The move was necessary to facilitate the building project that’s part of a broader plan by Beaufort County School District to fortify its facilities to handle population and development growth.
The school, with an enrollment of about 500 students in grades 6-8, serves families on Lady’s and St. Helena islands.
The new school will be constructed on the same site as the existing school at 30 Cougar Drive and have a capacity of 650 students with the potential to expand to 800.
Work is still in the design phase but construction is scheduled to begin in the fall, according to the Beaufort County School District. The tentative schedule calls for completion in the summer of 2028.
On Tuesday, at the request of the school district, the Beaufort City Council approved a rezoning of the 41-acre site to institutional and campus district to facilitate the 76,000-square-foot school’s construction. It had been zoned T3-Suburban District, which is primarily intended for single-family suburban residential housing, not large-scale buildings like schools.
“The planned use for this site is a complete brand new school,” Mark Koll, project manager for the school district, told City Council members.
The zoning change will allow the district to build a school and athletic facilities with a smaller footprint so it will have fewer stormwater drainage issues, Koll said. With the building more compact, fewer trees will need to be cut down as well, he added.
In 2023, voters gave the green light to the school district to borrow $439 million to equip schools to handle the county’s rapid population growth and development. Those funds included money for rebuilding Hilton Head Island High School and Lady’s Island Middle School and a new pre-K through fifth grade elementary school and an early childhood center in Bluffton.
The new Lady’s Island Middle school will be located between the existing school and football field. New football, softball and baseball fields also are planned. The current school and athletic facilities will be demolished but will remain standing until the new facilities are completed, limiting disruptions for students, the school district says.
The school district says the $61 million budget includes construction, furniture, fixes and equipment and soft costs. The actual construction budget is $49.8 million with a contingency of $2.49 million for a total of $52.3 million.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 12:24 PM.
