The Educational Construction Fund of the New York City Department of Education has come to terms with World Wide Holdings for the redevelopment of the High School of Art & Design and PS 59 on the east end of the block between Third and Second Avenues and 56th and 57th Streets.
According to Jamie Starr, the executive director of the fund, a new high school will be built on the site prior to closing the existing high school that occupies the Second Avenue blockfront between 56th and 57th Street. PS 59, which is known as the Beekman Hill International School, is located on 56th Street.
The fund leases air rights over schools to developers who build new schools and are able to use the air rights not used by the schools for their own purposes. In this instance, World Wide Holdings, of which Victor Elmaleh, a fine painter and former national champion handball player, is a principal, plans to develop 416,000 square feet of residential and retail uses in addition to the schools on the site.
According to Mr. Starr the terms of the 75-year lease have been reached and now an environmental review will be undertaken and construction of the as-of-right project is expected to start in 2008.
Mr. Starr said that no renderings were yet available but that he understood that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has been selected as the architect by World Wide Holdings.
Under the terms agreed upon, World Wide will spend about $130 million to construct the new 180,000-square-foot high school and a new 85,000-square-foot elementary school on the site.
Mr. Starr told CityRealty.com today that the project will involve two buildings.
Last November, the Educational Construction Fund entered an agreement with the DeMatteis Organization to build a new intermediate school and 238,000 square feet of residential space at 1765 First Avenue.
The Educational Construction Fund was created in 1966 and it best known for its mixed-use developments such as the office-building/Norman Thomas High School on the southeast corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street and the apartment building/Robert F. Kennedy School on 88th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.
This neighborhood has witnessed considerable new development activity recently with three residential condominium buildings nearing completion on Eat 57th Street and three major residential condominium towers advancing on Second Avenue just a few blocks to the south.
According to Jamie Starr, the executive director of the fund, a new high school will be built on the site prior to closing the existing high school that occupies the Second Avenue blockfront between 56th and 57th Street. PS 59, which is known as the Beekman Hill International School, is located on 56th Street.
The fund leases air rights over schools to developers who build new schools and are able to use the air rights not used by the schools for their own purposes. In this instance, World Wide Holdings, of which Victor Elmaleh, a fine painter and former national champion handball player, is a principal, plans to develop 416,000 square feet of residential and retail uses in addition to the schools on the site.
According to Mr. Starr the terms of the 75-year lease have been reached and now an environmental review will be undertaken and construction of the as-of-right project is expected to start in 2008.
Mr. Starr said that no renderings were yet available but that he understood that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has been selected as the architect by World Wide Holdings.
Under the terms agreed upon, World Wide will spend about $130 million to construct the new 180,000-square-foot high school and a new 85,000-square-foot elementary school on the site.
Mr. Starr told CityRealty.com today that the project will involve two buildings.
Last November, the Educational Construction Fund entered an agreement with the DeMatteis Organization to build a new intermediate school and 238,000 square feet of residential space at 1765 First Avenue.
The Educational Construction Fund was created in 1966 and it best known for its mixed-use developments such as the office-building/Norman Thomas High School on the southeast corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street and the apartment building/Robert F. Kennedy School on 88th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.
This neighborhood has witnessed considerable new development activity recently with three residential condominium buildings nearing completion on Eat 57th Street and three major residential condominium towers advancing on Second Avenue just a few blocks to the south.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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