T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH Superintendent Brent Ripley positions the stakeholders including students, staff members and other school officials as they prepare to break ground for The Bridge facility at Bridgeport Exempted Village Schools.

BRIDGEPORT — Officials broke ground on a “one-of-a-kind” school facility in the Bridgeport Exempted Village School District on Wednesday.

Ivan Vukevitch, project manager and one of the architects on the effort, described the new addition, which he said is unique among the nearly 400 school projects his firm, SHP Architect, has designed.

“We have designed a lot of schools,” he said of his work alongside architect Kyle Miller. “… So it’s what we love to do. It’s what we do best. But I’ll tell you what we don’t typically do. We don’t typically have a building that not only has classrooms and labs, a teaching kitchen, a cafe, a gym with an exercise track, a daycare, a wellness center, a clinic — with dental — all in a 30,000-square-foot footprint.”

Dubbed “The Bridge,” the new facility is being funded with a $13,834,879 grant from the state of Ohio along with other grant money. It will be built on the front side of the existing K-12 school building, which was constructed as a centralized campus in 2006.

In addition to providing Bridgeport students with expanded labs for science, technology, engineering and math and College Credit Plus programming, The Bridge also aims to facilitate connections with the community. for students, and adults will be able to attend training after school hours. WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital will open a clinic on site that will provide services to students and the public.

The Medicaid-funded OhioRISE (Resilience through Integrated Systems and Excellence) program, which connects young people who have behavioral and multisystem needs with the resources that will most benefit them, will have an office at the site.

Designed with input from school board and faculty members, students and members of the surrounding community, The Bridge will house a state-of-the-art gym and wellness room, operated by Bridgeport alumnus and personal trainer Cole Smelley. He said Wednesday that the gym portion of the structure will be known as “The Dog Pound” in celebration of the school mascot, the Bulldog.

Jeffrey Westhoven, chief of Program Services for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, was on hand for the ceremony Wednesday along with many local leaders. He agreed with Vukevitch that the project is unique.

He said the standard for winning the grant was high, and the process was competitive. He said state officials received more than 80 applications seeking more than $800 million for such efforts across the Buckeye State.

“What stood out for us, we liked the balance of your project,” he told the crowd. “You had partnerships, and one of the things that came through in the way it was written, is the community enthusiasm. …

“You have some good leadership here. You have some bright and ambitious people who did a really good job on this. … We’re looking forward to supporting all throughout the project design and construction. Again, thank you for letting us be a part of this ceremony, and congratulations.”

Beaver Constructors Inc. will be the contractor on the project, and district Superintendent Brent Ripley said the firm was selected, in part, due to its excellent safety record. The building must be completed by the end of 2026. Ripley also made the closing remarks in the campus cafetorium before various stakeholders grabbed silver shovels and headed outdoors to turn some earth.

“This is what’s important here — each of you. … You’re going to continue to change lives for generations to come. … This is phase one, but we are far from done. We are going to bring transformational change to this district. We will silence the naysayers and those negative Nellies on Facebook … through positive undeniable actions where we celebrate every life that is transformed here in this Bridge.

“We are going to celebrate the history of this district. … We will open our doors to every student, every parent, every community member that we can serve who is seeking a better education, a stronger workforce and a system that supports the whole person.”