Beaverton High School's fall sports teams will compete under a new roof when the school's $253 million building opens its doors Aug. 25, bringing with it a gymnasium equipped with a new scoreboard and bleachers large enough to seat the entire 1,400-student body.

The gym is the main athletic space inside the 290,000-square-foot, three-story facility stretching a full block along Southwest Farmington Road. For Beaver volleyball, basketball and wrestling programs that have spent two years of construction waiting for a permanent home court, the wait ends Aug. 25.

The project, the largest in the Beaverton School District's 2022 bond program, is on schedule and expected to finish under budget, according to facilities development administrator Aaron Boyle.

Construction took nearly two years; one more year of site work remains to complete parking lots and demolish the old building, whose main entrance sits less than 20 feet from the new one.

As we reported July 29, large abstract murals line the interior, including four tactile panels made by more than 100 ceramics students. A planned history wall will incorporate wood salvaged from the gym floor of the demolished Merle Davies building, connecting the new facility to decades of Beaver athletics.

Beyond the gym, the building features a 400-plus-capacity auditorium with 55-foot ceilings, a career technical education classroom wired to teach electrical trades, and natural light flooding classrooms where some teachers previously had none. The dark metal-paneled exterior, unique among district schools, saved money and is expected to require less maintenance.

Freshmen report Tuesday, Aug. 25. Sophomores, juniors and seniors follow Wednesday, Aug. 26.

BHS fall athletes won't have to wait long to break in the new gym. The varsity volleyball team opens its season on the road at North Salem on Thursday, Sept. 3, and at Franklin on Tuesday, Sept. 8, before hosting Jesuit in the first home conference match on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 6:45 p.m. Meanwhile, the district's bond team is converting the baseball and softball fields to turf this summer, demolishing annex buildings across the street to prep the ground.