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Two New York City Schools Part of $500M Mixed-Use Development Plan
October 18, 2006
By Amanda Marsh
The corner of 57th Street and Second Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City will now be the home to two new expanded, ultra-modern schools as part of a $500 million, 1 million-square-foot mixed-used development.
The Education Construction Fund announced that developer World-Wide Group has been chosen to redevelop the site, currently home to the High School of Art and Design and Public School 59. When completed, the facility will include the two news schools, 170,000 square feet of retail and a residential tower with 320 new rental and condominium units (pictured). The project is being designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill L.L.P, with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn designing the P.S. 59 building.
The first phase of construction, which will take place over three years beginning in January 2008, will include the development and construction of the two new schools. During the phase, P.S. 59 will be relocated to a new school facility located within the boundaries of its existing district. When the school is completed, the relocation facility --which will also be newly constructed at an undecided location--will them become a permanent school. The new P.S. 59 will accommodate 730 students, up from its current 400, while the new High School of Art and Design will accommodate 1,400 students.
Both schools will frame an expanded open space, providing students a controlled area for recreational activities. A new side yard setback along 56th Street will also serve as an additional outdoor play area for schools. Additionally, the new development will also provide community facilities in the form of the schools’ cafeterias, a 500-seat theater, gymnasiums and parent community rooms.
The second phase of construction will involve the mixed-use portion. Twenty percent of the planned rental units will be affordable housing, with an additional 30 units of affordable housing built off-site.
World-Wide Group will lease the site from the Education Construction Fund for a 75-year period, in which it will make an annual lease and PILOT payments to the fund. The payments will cover the cost of both new schools, estimated to be $130 million, and generate additional revenues for other school capital projects. The developer was unable to comment by deadline.
According to State Senator Liz Krueger (D-NY), who represents the 26th State Senate Districts in which the schools are located, a number of public schools within the area, including P.S. 59, are significantly over capacity. Furthermore, the Department of Education has stated that the number of students living within the school’s areas is rising steadily each year.
That, in addition to what may eventually be 6,000 new apartments on former Con Edison sites at First Avenue between 35th and 41st Streets, would be an impossible burden on the schools, Krueger argued to the New York City Planning Commission three weeks ago.
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