In March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency obligated $32.2 million to build a new St. Louis Catholic High School campus.

The new campus will be built on a 42-acre lot on the corner of E. McNeese Street and Corbina Road, five miles from the original campus on Bank St. The property was purchased in December 2022 as part of the Diocese of Lake Charles’ hurricane recovery.

A majority of the campus (the Diocese’s only high school) was destroyed by Hurricane Laura in 2020. Since then, the school has been operated out of temporary modular buildings.

Bishop Glen John Provost said during the new property’s blessing in August that the diocese is leveraging this moment to build an even better school.

“Our task, our work, must always be to do God’s will. This was certainly the example that St. Louis King of France, the patron of our school, left us,” he state in an October news release. “We must seize the moment, make the most of it, not be discouraged by setbacks, and always move forward with courage and hope.”

The new 40,000 square-foot will have a main academic building with a commons area, art gallery, main academic classrooms and the St. Charles Chapel; a field house with a weight room and locker space for outdoor sports; two grass fields; a pavilion to be used for sports training and gathering; and the building that will house woodshop.

These amenities will be covered by the $32 million FEMA award.

In October, St. Louis announced that the Bank St. property will be sold to the St. Nicholas Center for Children — a nonprofit therapy center for those ages eight months to 21 who are diagnosed with autism, and developmental delays and disorders.

The move to Corbina St. has been broken down into a three-phase plan. The first phase of the plan was the demolition of buildings on the Bank St. property, which began in December. A $494,000 bid was granted to Chaney Trucking and Developing to demolish the Vianney House, the Academic Building and the Krajicek Gym.

In the second phase of the project, the lot that the Krajicek gym sat on will and the property with the temporary campus will be sold to the St. Nicholas Center, as well. This phase will initiate when the school moves to the new campus.

The parking area on Seventh Street and the Landry Memorial Gym will be sold in the third phase.

The Diocese told the American Press that a groundbreaking for the new campus is planned in the new year.