A portion of Mendez Elementary School will be turned into San Marcos CISD's new administration building following a 4-1-2 vote Feb. 19. The renovation will cost $4.55 million and be about 20,000 square feet, more than 13,000 square feet larger than the original central administration building, located at 501 S. LBJ Drive. The boardroom, which serves as the meeting place for board of trustees meetings, will remain at San Marcos High School. The need for a new administration building came about after the building on LBJ Drive tested positive for mold last year. The district secured a two-year lease at 631 Mill St., and staff moved out of the LBJ Drive building in November. Last month trustees capped the amount they would be willing to spend on a new administration building to $3.5 million. While the cost of the renovation is about $1 million over budget, trustees said they would consider selling part of the land and building on LBJ Drive and use that revenue to help pay for the renovations at Mendez. The district also owns about 30 acres of land at 201 Suttles Ave., where about 15 acres are currently in use, and not all the land at Mendez is in use. Trustees could also sell part or all of the land for extra funds, although staff did not recommend selling the Suttles site or the rest of the Mendez acreage. According to meeting documents, the district could sell about 1.94 of the 2.71 acres at 501 S. LBJ Drive for about $2.1 million. The rest of the land is being leased by Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. The expenses would come out of the district's general fund. Karen Griffith, Assistant superintendent for business and support services, said developer Perkins+Will, who is designing the new elementary school, the high school addition and the transportation center, will now begin designing the administration building. Trustee Anne Halsey was the lone no vote in the decision to renovate part of Mendez. Trustees Miguel Arrendondo and Clementine Cantu were absent from the dais.