Desert tortoise’s habitat built at Summerlin elementary school
The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of the award-winning master-planned community of Summerlin, recently built a community of a different kind. Working with two key contractors, Soil Tech and JC Co., Hughes oversaw the construction of a 600-square-foot tortoise habitat at Doral Academy Red Rock Elementary School, a public charter school in the Stonebridge village of Summerlin.
On March 21, the school and its 800 students cheerfully welcomed the habitat’s sole resident — Rocky the tortoise, who arrived with fanfare and style at, not one, but two schoolwide assemblies.
According to Hughes employees, Glenn Lowrimore, director of construction, and Jorge Sosa, manager of construction, together, served as general contractor on the project. The habitat was built entirely from start to finish in under two weeks while students were on winter break in late December.
“To ensure no disruption to the school or pose a danger to the students given construction activity, the habitat was completed in record time thanks to our generous partners who donated both time and materials to this project,” Lowrimore said. “Soil Tech oversaw all the revegetation and JC Cos. built the enclosure walls. It was the ultimate group effort.”
“We are grateful to The Howard Hughes Corp. and its partners for helping us to make the tortoise habitat a reality,” said Kim Hammond, principal of Doral Academy Red Rock Elementary School. “The habitat will be incorporated into our school curriculum as students learn about biology, horticulture and science. Plus, we know the kids will love watching and observing Rocky. We expect him to become a source of great pride for the school.”
The master-planned community of Summerlin offers nearly 180 floor plans in 40 neighborhoods in nine distinct villages. Homes are available in a variety of styles — from single-family homes to town homes, priced from the $230,000s to more than $1 million. For more information, visit www.Summerlin.com.
