Plans are underway for the expansion of a Denver school building that is being closed due to a declining enrollment.
Located at 845 S. Lowell Boulevard on the southwest side of the city, the Richard T. Castro Elementary School is a one-story brick structure that was built in the early 1990s and in the last semester served around 230 students.
It is one of seven schools that members of the Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education voted to close last November because of population shifts and a decline in its student population.
The closure of those schools is expected to save the district an estimated nearly $30 million.
Now district officials have decided to keep the building open and repurpose it as the Summit Academy. Classified as an alternative school, the Summit Academy is currently housed in a small, former bank building some three miles away.
An immediate repurposing of the former Castro school in the coming summer months is expected to cost around $250,000 with work that will include upgrading the structure’s security system and building new signage.
A larger $750,000 is slated to be spent by mid-2026 adding new science labs to the structure.
Funding for the work will come out of a $975 million bond measure approved by Denver voters last year, a portion of which is dedicated to school facility reconfiguration projects.
Altogether, the school board voted to close seven Denver school buildings, with possible repurposing plans for three of those buildings expected to be announced later.
June 13, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Denver Public School
