Structural steel is climbing skyward and brick infill is going in at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Ward 8, where crews are deep into modernizing the Congress Heights campus nearly a year after the project's ceremonial groundbreaking. The modernization, carrying a project cost of $65 million, has reached the steel decking and structural steel erection phase, according to new progress photos shared this week.
The update came in a Facebook post from DC Department of General Services, which detailed the capital construction team's recent work on brick infill, masonry repair, and steel decking installation at the site. The agency's Capital Construction Services team and DGS project managers, including Derek Waldron and Jugal Dalal, are overseeing the effort, with MCN Build and Studios Architecture serving as the design-build team behind the modernization.
The project traces back to a Halloween ceremony last year, when officials marked what DGS called a “ground-boo-reaking” to kick off construction — an event Hoodline covered as Mayor Bowser helped launch the modernization.
A Bigger Building With New Amenities
Planned upgrades inside the modernized campus include a 30-foot indoor rock-climbing wall, a performance stage with professional-grade lighting and sound, new learning commons, a new kitchen cafeteria, and an enhanced gym addition, per DGS. The redesign is also engineered to be Net Zero-ready and achieve LEED Gold certification, incorporating sustainable building standards established by District environmental policy, according to the same agency announcements and documented in a DC Council committee response from February 2025.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts reviewed and granted final staff approval for the design concept for the school's additions and renovations in April 2026, confirming the project cleared federal architectural design review ahead of construction.
Students Relocated During Construction
While the Congress Heights building gets rebuilt, students and staff have been temporarily relocated for the 2026–2027 academic year to the McGogney Swing Space at 3400 Wheeler Road SE. The swing facility was renovated in 2024–2025 before students arrived, giving the school community a temporary home while the permanent campus is prepared to reopen for the 2027–2028 school year.
Back at the construction site, crews continue to coordinate site and safety logistics with the adjacent Congress Heights Recreation Center, which shares an access driveway and parking lot with the elementary school. That shared access point means ongoing multi-agency coordination between DGS, which manages both school and parks projects, as construction activity continues near the recreation center's daily operations.
A Snapshot of Who the School Serves
During the 2024–2025 school year, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary enrolled 193 students across pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, with 99% of students identifying as Black or African American, according to data from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. The school offers Early Action guaranteed Pre-K access for in-boundary families and feeds directly into Hart Middle School in Ward 8, per My School DC's enrollment information.
The steel now rising above Congress Heights marks a visible sign that the transformation is underway.
