Rangeland High Hits 25% Complete, Cafeteria Roof and Auditorium Walls Rising

Rangeland High School, the new campus rising at the corner of Rangeland Parkway and Post Boulevard, is now about 25% complete, with the roof finished on the administrative building, the cafeteria and the central energy plant. The classroom building's first floor is done and crews are now framing its roof. The $144 million, 300,000-square-foot school remains on schedule to open in August 2027, welcoming its first ninth and 10th graders to a campus built for roughly 1,070 students.

For families in Lakewood Ranch, the progress means the countdown to a long-promised neighborhood high school is now visible from the road. Crews broke ground on the 85-acre site on Jan. 21, and eight months later the pace has picked up: Gilbane Building Company, the project's builder, has about 160 workers on site every day.

Of the campus's full 300,000 square feet, 210,000 will be finished for opening day. The remaining space will come online in phases as the school adds 11th graders in August 2028 and 12th graders in August 2029. A longer-term expansion plan calls for a second two-story classroom wing that would eventually push capacity to about 2,500 students, though that addition is not part of the current construction timeline.

What's going up first

The cafeteria is the furthest-along building on site, with its roof complete and exterior brick now being installed. The auditorium's foundation is in and walls are starting to rise. The design borrows heavily from Parrish Community High School but adds its own security upgrades, including covered walkways connecting every building back to the administration hub, plus two collegiate-style lecture halls that are new to the district's high school playbook.

The school's name became official on April 28, when the School Board of Manatee County voted unanimously to call it Rangeland High after a community naming survey drew 1,663 suggestions. Its mascot will be the Gators, and its colors are purple, silver and black. Founding Principal Dustin Dahlquist has said he wants to bring in the Cambridge AICE program, a college-prep track that can help students qualify for Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship.

One piece still up in the air

Not everything about the campus is locked in. The district has been weighing whether to spend an additional $2.5 million to $4 million to upgrade the planned 800-to-900-seat auditorium into a full performing arts theater that would be open to public use, not just school events. Associate Superintendent Kevin Chapman has said the district is looking for outside funding to help cover that cost, and a decision was expected around December or January.

That decision will shape more than the stage lighting. A public performing arts venue on the east side of Lakewood Ranch would give community groups, and not just students, a new place to put on a show. For now, the building crews are focused on getting the roof and walls up before turning attention to what happens inside them.

Stay with the Lakewood Ranch Community Website for updates as Rangeland High moves toward its 2027 opening, and join the conversation in our Community Forum to share what you'd like to see at the new school. For more on what's coming to the area, check out our education coverage and our coming soon section for other projects taking shape around Lakewood Ranch.