Harvest Prep’s new San Luis campus delayed until January 2027

Harvest Preparatory Academy’s new San Luis campus will not open until January 2027, pushing back a project on San Fernando Street and 20th Avenue that was supposed to add much-needed classroom capacity for families in south Yuma County. The delay means students who were counting on a larger campus will wait through another school year before the city sees the full benefit of the expansion.

The school broke ground on the San Luis site on May 14, 2025, and had previously expected the campus to be ready by the start of the 2026-2027 school year. Earlier projections were even more aggressive, with some coverage pointing to July 2026. The latest timeline shows how a major private school build can be slowed not by construction alone, but by the regulatory and infrastructure steps that shape development in a growing border city.

Project manager David Garrison said the team has faced long waits for soils reports, geology review and other environmental and permitting requirements. The City of San Luis, through its Development Services Department, reviews permits, inspections, zoning and building regulations for both private and public projects, a process that can stretch schedules on large developments. In this case, those steps have become central to when the campus can actually open its doors.

Traffic and access have also played a role. City officials wanted the developers to help cover a traffic signal near the hospital, a cost placed at $143,000 and tied to traffic-impact calculations. That issue lands in a corridor already under pressure from other growth, including Onvida Health’s new San Luis medical campus. For local families, the school delay is part of a broader question about whether roads, utilities and public approvals are keeping pace with new construction.

Harvest Preparatory Academy says the San Luis expansion remains a major long-term investment, with room planned for as many as 2,500 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school’s current San Luis campus is listed by the Arizona Department of Education as a K-8 secure campus with preschool on the same property line, underscoring the need for more space as enrollment grows.

The school was founded in 2001 by Dr. Mario Ybarra and Debi Ybarra, starting with 150 students in Yuma. Today, Harvest Prep operates multiple campuses in the region and says it is still enrolling students for the 2025-2026 school year at its existing campuses, including San Luis. For now, the January 2027 opening date stands as the next test of whether the city’s permitting process and the school’s building plans can finally move in step.