$48 million replacement high school opens in Marietta, Ga.

The Cobb County (Ga.) district has replaced a high school in Marietta with a $48 million facility.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports that the new Walton High School, under construction since May 2015, has 302,506 square feet, of space and 132 classrooms.

The school can accommodate 2,575 students and replaces a school building that opened in 1975.

Cobb County School Board Vice Chair Scott Sweeny says the project began as an effort to replace the school’s aging fine arts facilities.

“For the cost of what we’re looking at, the cost of actually adding to the fine arts department, we could actually replace the school,” Sweeny says. “And that was the momentum that needed to happen for this community to receive this beautiful school.”

The district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sunday, and classes began today in the new facility.

The second phase of construction—a new performing arts center and athletic building—is set to be completed in early 2019.