By Roland Li
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has sold a parcel of land to Harlem Children’s Zone, a nonprofit group, for $7.04 million, according to city records.
The land, which is located on the St. Nicholas Houses public housing project, will be developed into a five-story, 135,000 s/f charter school and community center. The Children’s Zone has a $100 development budget for the project, which includes a $60 million grant from the city’s Department of Education, a $20 million donation from Goldman Sachs and $6 million from Google. Developer Civic Builders has also donated its $5 million fee for the project.
The new school will have over 50 classrooms, replacing the Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy I, currently at 125th Street, and P.S. 175 at West 134th Street. It will also include a two-floor library, gymnasium and other facilities and 30,000 s/f of new landscaping. A NYCHA parking lot with 34 spaces will be relocated to other lots, but no residential buildings will be displaced. However, some local residents had opposed the project due to changes in open space.
Following construction, ownership of the building and land will go to the city’s Department of Education, and the Children’s Zone will have a lease to operate the school, said a spokeswoman for NYCHA.
A groundbreaking for the project was held at the beginning of April and the school is expected to open at the end of 2012, according to an official at the Harlem Children’s Zone.
