Avison Young’s New York office arranged a long-term ground lease for Hellenic Classical Charter School (HCCS) at 1641 Richmond Avenue in Staten Island, a property owned by the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Community.
An Avison Young team comprised of Marty Cottingham, principal, Michael Gottlieb, principal, and Patrick Steffens, associate, represented HCCS in the transaction.
HCCS plans to build a new 36,000 s/f school on the site that will house grades 3-8. As well as classrooms, specialty rooms and an auditorium it will have a gym and high-tech library.
Avison Young also renewed the existing 23,000 s/f leased space for grades Pre-K-2nd to coincide with the term of the new building ground lease. The original 23,000 s/f lease was signed in 2019.
The Avison Young team negotiated for the school to expand its relationship with the Holy Trinity Community via this new long-term ground lease on a portion of the land adjacent to their existing building, located at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard.
“Our existing relationship with HCCS, in addition to our experience and proven track record with other charter school leases, served us well in this transaction,” said Cottingham.
“From early on, we determined what was best for our client – signing a long term-ground lease at 1641 Richmond Avenue allowed the school, as a nonprofit organization with tax-exempt status, to receive significant savings over the cost of the term. We’re pleased to have negotiated this deal on their behalf and look forward to seeing their brand-new Staten Island educational facility upon completion.”
HCCS also was able to acquire $44 million bond financing from Build NYC to help cover the cost of construction of its new building.
HCCS is a National Blue Ribbon K-8 charter school based in Park Slope Brooklyn. It expanded into Staten Island with a sister school through its initial agreement with the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Community.
