 In February 1996, the Hillsborough County School Board purchased two forty-acre plots from two different owners for a total of $2,050,000 on the southeast corner of Boyette Road and Balm Riverview Road, in Riverview, Florida, to be the location of a high school.Ground was broken in January 1997 and construction began in preparation for opening of school in August 1998.On January 20, 1998, Riverview High School's first principal, J. Vince Thompson, was appointed.