Cypress Hills Community School
Project Type: Conversion of an industrial building
Project Size: 55,585 s.f.
Construction Cost: Estimated $27,900,000
Projected Completion: 2009
Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Community School, a unique community-based, dual language school, was founded in 1997 by a group of dedicated parents and community leaders. The Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) co-founded the innovative public elementary school, which will grow to serve 400 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Cypress Hills Community School, P.S. 89, is run by co-directors: one parent and one professional educator. A parent-teacher collaborative helps run the school, and parents are a volunteer presence in and outside of classrooms.
Lacking a home of its own, the Community School has operated within other school buildings since its inception. After three years of committed advocacy by parents and CHLDC, the team secured $20 million from the New York City Council Speaker’s Initiative Fund--enough to purchase an underutilized industrial building and convert it into a high-quality school and community facility.
The existing 3 story warehouse located on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York
A computer generated rendering of the future Cypress Hills Community School
Within the boundaries of what the New York City School Construction Authority will permit, the project's construction and use will be environmentally friendly. The school will be constructed with non-harmful building materials, and the redesign of the structure brings daylight to all classrooms and common spaces. Demolition debris will be recycled. Because the project reuses an existing building in a densely built location, many students and staff will be able to walk to school.
The construction project is currently out to bid, with construction projected to start in the summer of 2007.
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