Cobb district begins $48 million Pebblebrook High School expansion

An aerial shot of the construction site at Pebblebrook High School. The Cobb County School District recently started its $48 million project to build a new classroom addition, gym and second theater at the school in Mableton. Credit: Cobb County School District

Credit: Cobb County School District

Credit: Cobb County School District

An aerial shot of the construction site at Pebblebrook High School. The Cobb County School District recently started its $48 million project to build a new classroom addition, gym and second theater at the school in Mableton. Credit: Cobb County School District

Major changes are underway at one of Cobb County’s largest high schools.

The school district recently started its $48 million project to build a new classroom addition, gym and second theater at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton. Cobb is paying for the project using Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue.

The new three-story, 49-classroom addition will bring the school’s total classroom count to 143 and allow the school to accommodate up to 2,787 students, Cobb schools previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As of March 4, Pebblebrook had 2,291 students enrolled, according to data from the Georgia Department of Education.

The lower level of the three-story building will have a wrestling room, weight room, two-story gym and some classrooms. The second level will include the gym and more classrooms while the third level will house the remaining classrooms.

Pebblebrook’s new theater will seat 750 people and will be constructed next to the existing theater. The new space will have a common area that provides access to both theaters and will have two dance studios, light and sound shop, scene area, orchestra pit and fly loft, Cobb schools said.

The new theatre space will be used by the Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts, the district’s magnet program housed at Pebblebrook.

Pebblebrook originally opened in 1963, but in 1975 moved into the building that once housed Lindley Junior High School, according to its website. Several buildings have been added to the campus to accommodate student growth over the years.

Cobb school board members in June 2020 approved a contract with Bowen & Watson, Inc. to build the additions. Marc Smith, chief technology and operations officer for the district, told board members last summer that the project is scheduled to be completed by September 2022.