Northwood Elementary, the first new school building constructed on Mercer Island in more than 50 years, will open for classes when the 2016-17 school year begins Aug. 31.

Northwood will serve about 400 students in grades pre-K to 5. Attendance boundaries were redrawn over a year ago to accommodate the new school. Aimee Batliner-Gillette is principal and Jill Ravenscraft is associate principal.

Mahlum Architects of Seattle designed Northwood. Bayley Construction of Mercer Island is the general contractor. Brandy Fox of CPM Seattle, Inc. served as owner’s representative managing the project.

The building is 77,000 square feet and the site includes 20 general-purpose classrooms, two developmental preschool classrooms and eight shared learning areas. There are library, kitchen, commons, administrative and counseling areas as well.

The Northwood gym includes a high school-sized basketball court along with volleyball, badminton, and various other school sports.

Parking on the east side of the site will accommodate 67 high school students during the school day, after school use by Mary Wayte Pool, and event parking for various activities on the North Mercer Complex. A dedicated bus loop will serve the school off Southeast 40th Street, with parking and student loading on the west side of the building.

Frontage improvements have been made on 86th Avenue Southeast and along the south side of Southeast 40th Street, and the Madrone Grove has been restored at the corner of 86th Southeast and Southeast 40th Street.

Northwood features an 8,200-square-foot green roof, a 99.9 kilowatt-hour solar array and radiant floor heating in classrooms.

The school is located at 4030 86th Ave. SE. For information, call 206-275-5800.