Kannapolis is well on its way to getting a new middle school.

The Kannapolis City Board of Education voted Tuesday to select Moseley Architecture of Charlotte to design the building.

“They have a lot of experience with building middle schools – they’ve built 106 of them,” said Community Relations Director Ellen Boyd.

Boyd said the board was especially impressed with the firm’s commitment to attend each construction meeting, site preparation software and their plan for a solar array on top of the building.

“It would save us money in the long run,” she said.

The school system hasn’t signed a contract yet, the motion simply gave Will Crabtree, director of business operations, permission to start working on a contract with the company.

“There’s not a cost attached to this yet,” Boyd said. “All of this is contingent upon coming up with a contract that is agreeable with everybody.”

The other firms that bid on the contract were Little Architecture, Morris-Berg Architects, FWA Group and Boomerang Design. All companies were out of Charlotte.

Boyd said the district expects the school should be ready to open by the start of school in 2017.

The middle school will be located on property the district already owns, right beside the current middle school.

When the new middle school opens, the former middle school will become a new intermediate school. The current Kannapolis Intermediate School will become a STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, magnet school, and the new intermediate school will eventually become an arts magnet school.

The middle school will house all Kannapolis seventh and eighth grade students, and both intermediate schools will house students in grades four, five and six and all Kannapolis middle schools will switch to serving grades kindergarten through third grade. The shift will allow the district to alleviate overcrowding in all schools.

Money for the school will come from the Cabarrus county Board of Commissioners.

The board was issued the funds to start the planning process for the school through a Cabarrus County bond referendum. They should receive the rest of the money from the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners.