Renovation work continues, as Syracuse STEAM High School readies for first class

SYRACUSE — Just a few weeks away from the start of the 2025-2026 school year, construction crews continue their efforts to get the new Syracuse STEAM High School ready to welcome 250 freshman students for instruction. STEAM is short for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The school is bringing new life to the former Central Tech High School building across from the Centro Bus hub in downtown Syracuse. It’s located at 701 Warren St. South & East Adams Street. Crews are working to complete the first and second floors and a portion of the basement area, which meets the needs of the curriculum and programs for the incoming freshman class, Archie Wixson, Onondaga County facilities commissioner, told reporters taking the July 20 tour. After school opens, the construction work will continue, but it will be “off hours” in the basement and on an upper floor, he added. “These contractors know how to work around the children, and we put safety and barricading measures in place, so there’s no crossover between the construction and the students,” Wixson said. C&S Companies of Syracuse is the construction manager for the project, he added. “The reality is we’re going to be ready to welcome in those freshman students, and the work will continue … and by the time we have the first day of school in 2026, we will be fully done,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said. Walsh, Wixson, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, and Anthony Davis, superintendent of the Syracuse City School District, guided the tour through the area’s first regional technical high school with the renovation effort ongoing. The project cost has risen to about $100 million, Wixson said when asked about the current cost figure. The project was announced as a $74 million effort at the time of the groundbreaking on Dec. 7, 2023, per the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul. The state committed $71 million to project. Davis said he’s spoken to a few students who will begin their work at the STEAM High School this fall, and they’re feeling “excitement” at what’s coming up. The STEAM High School is open to students in Onondaga County as well as those in Cortland and Madison counties as well, Davis told reporters during the question-and-answer session inside the school. “I had the honor of speaking at the last Central Tech class reunion and explaining to them what’s happening in this building. The sense of pride that they had to see this building come back alive was extremely important,” Davis noted in his remarks. “During my time in the previous administration, there was a lot of interest in this building for housing or some other mixed-use redevelopment, but to [former] Superintendent Alicea’s credit and others in the community, they had a vision for what this could be,” Walsh said in his remarks. “It was different, but it aligned perfectly with the Syracuse Surge strategy and with all of our other efforts on workforce development, building off of the amazing success of the career and technical-education programs that the Syracuse City School District has continued to build upon.” Syracuse Surge is the city’s strategy for “inclusive growth in the New Economy,” per the city’s website. Walsh launched Syracuse Surge in 2019.