NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — After several years of planning, Newport News City Council has greenlighted money for the construction of a new Huntington Middle School.

The city will spend $40 million in the next fiscal year to redevelop the entire block that the more than 80-year-old building sits on in the southeast community. The construction will also incorporate a new Pearl Bailey Library, Doris Miller Community Center and C. Waldo Scott Center all in a seven-block radius.

The Newport News Public School board voted to close Huntington Middle back in 2018 due to deteriorating conditions.

Ever since, members of the Huntington Alumni Association, who hark back to the building’s high school days, have been regular attendees at meetings, encouraging the city to fund a replacement.

On Tuesday at the Newport News School Board, meeting Superintendent Dr. George Parker explained that the city was taking on the project through a memorandum of understanding with the school system with a school opening expected in 2024.

“The creation of the community campus will provide the community with modern services at its neighborhood school, recreation center, and library,” the city Capital Improvement Plan documents said.

Currently, students districted to attend Huntington Middle School attend classes at Heritage High School.