Contractors describe phased renovation and utility relocation at Melrose Elementary; community salvages historic materials

Putnam County School District Superintendent and contractor representatives said Melrose Elementary is undergoing a phased renovation that required relocating campus utilities, demolishing an older classroom building and salvaging historic materials, with an anticipated ready-for-school target of summer 2027.

Chris Shepherd, senior project manager with Parish McCall Constructors, said the contract mobilized with an early-release package and that crews began renovating Building 6 (an early-move building) to allow classrooms to relocate while Building 1 was prepared for demolition. "We mobilized 11/21/2025" for early work, Shepherd said, and crews completed a directional bore over a winter break to move the campus feeder and energize a relocated transformer.

Shepherd and others noted Melrose has several very old buildings and that the community values those elements. The transcript records that the Melrose historic society recovered doors, hardware and windows for reuse before demolition, and JD Thompson said some removed cypress trees were taken to a mill to be made into furniture for the new school rather than discarded.

Speakers described the Melrose effort as multi-phase—Shepherd called it four phases with A/B splits, effectively six phases—and said anticipated completion timing is similar to Crescent City when accounting for phasing and earlier head starts on some work. Casper Architects is identified in the transcript as Melrose's design team; the contractor also named CRA as the Crescent City design team.

The district encouraged residents with questions about Melrose or Crescent City to contact JD Thompson, the executive director of construction management, and said timelines are posted on the district website and the contractor's site.