Higley served as Construction Manager at Risk for the new Cleveland School of the Arts High School, a beautiful and architecturally distinctive presence in University Circle. Glass stairwells connect the three levels at both ends of the school, angled like the prows of a ship. The north stairwell displays a monumental, digital reproduction of a painted mural created for the new structure by Cleveland artist, Mark Howard. Along with a gymnasium and cafeteria on the first floor, the music department comprises of a recording studio, a choral practice room, numerous practice rooms, acoustically isolated band and orchestra classrooms, and a well-equipped Black Box Theater.

The second-floor houses airy, well-lit dance, drama, and art studio classrooms. Classrooms for core subjects on the third floor include biology and chemistry laboratories. The building design accommodates the future, west expansion of a $22 Million performing and visual arts center, including a 500 to 700-seat auditorium. The 775-student, ninth through twelfth grade CSA accommodates the wide variety of creative disciplines offered to CSA students.

Project Achievements

• Despite the three-month delay from redesign, the school completed in time for the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year
• Exceeded the Owner’s EDGE participation goals at 9.29%
• Surpassed the Owner’s FBE and MBE diverse participation goal (25%) at 26.19%, with 5.01% female and 21.1% minority workforce
• Project is LEED® Silver Certified
• Self-performed miscellaneous carpentry