Huntsville (Ala.) City Schools has carried out an $18 million renovation of a former middle school to provide a new home for the district's Academy for Academics & Art.

The Huntsville Times reports that the new space for the K-8 magnet school, which was established in 1984, will accommodate nearly twice the number of students as its previous location.

Among the features of the new site is a second auditorium, still being constructed, that will provide students with more opportunities to perform on stage.

District and school officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the school's move from the former Cavalry Hill Elementary school building to the former site of Ed White Middle School, which closed in 2014.

District superintendent Casey Wardynski says enrollment at the academy will rise from about 380 students las year to 680 students for 2015-16. The capacity at the new campus is about 717.