The Huntsville Planning Commission approved plans for the new Huntsville City Schools central office and career tech center at its meeting Tuesday night.

The two school facilities will be built at the corner of Memorial Parkway and Max Luther Drive and expected to cost a combined $40 million.

The central office building will be about 40,000 square feet, said Frank Nola of Nola Van Peursem architectural firm. The career tech education center will be about 80,000 square feet.

The central office will replace the aged Merts Center on White Street, which was sold by the school district to Wesley Crunkleton of Crunkleton and Associates for $2.9 million according to documents obtained by the Lede. That building is now being developed into condominiums and home lots.

Offices once located in the Merts Center have since been dispersed into multiple buildings, Nola said. Huntsville City Board of Education meetings have since been held at Huntsville High Schools. Nola said the offices will be housed in the new central office once construction is complete.