Friends of BelovED Community Charter School 2, Inc. (Friends 2) and Urbahn Architects have completed the new high school facility for the BelovED Community Charter School.
Located at 535 Grand Street in Jersey City, the high school will serve 480 students once fully occupied.
According to Urbahn Architect’s Principal Marty Stein, AIA, the 53,000 s/f, four-story building will house students in grades 9 to 12.
The $12.5 million property features a parking garage at ground level and 20 full-sized classrooms and laboratories, 4 half-classrooms, a gymnasium, a multi-purpose room, and a large cafetorium located on higher floors, accessed by an elevator and two stairwells.”
BelovED Community Charter School, named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of “Beloved Community,” operates K-8 school facilities across the street from the new high school. The school currently serves 1,320 students in grades K-10, and by the beginning of the school year 2022-23 the enrollment will increase to 1,560 students in grades K-12.
Bret Schundler, a former Jersey City Mayor and New Jersey Commissioner of Education, noted that
“The new high school supports the efforts of Jersey City and the Jersey City Housing Authority to balance the many luxury multi-family properties currently being developed in Jersey City with the development of quality affordable housing and neighborhoods. The BelovED campus is located within a moderate and affordable housing section of the city and serves many children from its immediate neighborhood.”
In addition to Urbahn Architects, the project team included structural engineer Consulting Engineers Collaborative (CEC); mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineer Partner Engineering and Science; civil engineer Derosier Engineering; and food service design consultant Schiavone Designs.
