Florence One Schools plans August start for aquatic-center conversion

Florence One Schools plans to convert a former grocery store in Florence, Alabama, into an aquatic center, with construction expected to begin in August 2026 and completion targeted for August 2027.

The school system announced the project May 22, 2026. School and local officials described the conversion as part of broader educational and economic-development efforts in Florence.

A former retail site would become a school facility

The project would reuse a former grocery-store location for a facility tied to Florence One Schools. The planned aquatic center would add a school-linked facility while giving the system a new use for an existing building site.

Officials connected the project to educational goals as well as regional economic development. In practical terms, the planned facility could expand the setting available for student programming and recreation while contributing to the area’s broader development capacity.

The project is specifically associated with Florence One Schools in Florence, Alabama. It is not a report about a similarly named city or about Florence County, South Carolina.

Schedule remains a plan

Construction is expected to start in August 2026. The announced target is completion by August 2027, putting the planned conversion on a roughly one-year construction timeline from the expected start.

Those dates describe a prospective project schedule. They do not establish that construction has started, that the conversion is complete or that the aquatic center is open and operating.

The next major milestone identified for the project is the expected construction start in August 2026. Completion in August 2027 remains a target rather than a confirmed opening date.

Project details still pending

The announcement did not identify a final construction contract amount, an exact street address or the aquatic programs planned for the facility. It also did not provide a separate operational opening date beyond the August 2027 completion target.

Those details will matter as the project moves from announcement to construction. For now, the confirmed development is Florence One Schools’ plan to convert the former grocery store into an aquatic center, along with the expected August 2026 start and August 2027 completion target.