Construction crews placed the final structural steel beam atop the new Frank Cody High School building this week, a milestone Detroit Public Schools Community District marked with a celebration as the $86 million project moves toward its planned opening for the 2027-28 school year. The topping out comes about a year after crews broke ground on the west side campus, part of a district-wide effort to replace some of the city's most worn-down school buildings.
According to WXYZ, the new 127,500-square-foot facility will sit adjacent to the existing Cody High School and is being built as an addition to the original campus. DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the topping out ceremony brings the district closer to opening the new neighborhood high school, adding that every Detroit neighborhood deserves a high-quality facility, per the station's report. Construction on the project began in July 2025, and the district previously celebrated the formal groundbreaking for the rebuild in October 2025.
What's Inside the New Building
The new Cody High School is designed to house a school-based health center, an outdoor courtyard for student and staff gatherings, and a multipurpose performance space, the same report notes. It will also include specialized spaces for JROTC, fitness programs, business courses, and career technical education, giving students hands-on learning areas beyond a traditional classroom setup. Those additions align with plans described by Detroit Public Schools Community District, which has said the facility will expand Cody's career and technical education curriculum with a new health science pathway, a marketing course, and a student-run retail store featuring apparel designed by students and alumni.
Students who were sophomores when construction broke ground in October 2025 — the Class of 2028 — are expected to be the first cohort to spend their senior year inside the finished building, according to CBS News Detroit. The district says the new campus aims to give students an upgraded learning environment compared to the aging original structure it replaces.
Why Cody Got a Full Rebuild Instead of Repairs
The decision to construct an entirely new building rather than renovate the 1952 facility traces back to the original Cody High School's Facility Condition Index score of 51, which classified it as severely deficient, according to the Michigan Chronicle. Fixing the old building's aging infrastructure, including crumbling ceilings and a lack of central air conditioning, would have cost the district roughly $40 million in 2022 alone, the outlet reported. Frank Cody High School first opened on Detroit's west side in 1952, named for former DPS superintendent Frank Cody, and later grew by absorbing attendance boundaries from nearby Redford and Mackenzie high schools after those schools closed in 2007, per Wikipedia.
Cody is one of five Detroit public school campuses slated for complete reconstruction under the district's long-range facilities plan, alongside Pershing High School, Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy, Carstens @ Golightly, and Phoenix, as reported by Chalkbeat. The rebuild is funded through DPSCD's $700 million facility investment plan, approved by the Detroit school board in May 2022, which leans on federal COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan along with district general fund capital reserves rather than new local tax bonds.
A Neighborhood Built Around Its Schools
The Cody Rouge neighborhood surrounding the school has the second-largest population of school-age children in Detroit outside of Southwest Detroit, with about one-third of area residents under 18, according to Model D. That demographic weight has made the high school a focal point for investment in the surrounding blocks. To support Cody's athletic programs, DPSCD also approved a $15 million project at the former Cooley High School site to build a shared off-site athletic complex and track, a plan detailed by WDIV ClickOnDetroit and connected to Hoodline's earlier coverage of Cooley High's demolition for sports fields.
DPSCD's 20-year Facility Master Plan sets broader targets beyond Cody, aiming to lower the district's average Facility Condition Index rating from 40, considered deficient, down to 28-29, considered fair, by 2027, while raising districtwide facility utilization from 71% to 78%, per the State of Michigan Financial Review Commission. Because much of the current construction wave relies on one-time federal relief dollars and district reserves rather than long-term bonds, future capital upkeep beyond this initial building phase will hinge on DPSCD's continued fiscal health as enrollment trends shift across the district.
