Imagine if your child commuted to school by elevator. For hundreds of Lower Manhattan kids, that may just be the case in a few years. NY1’s Jennifer Rainville explains in the following report.
The latest in the rebuilding effort in Lower Manhattan? A one-million square foot building just down the road from City Hall that will house apartments, condos, retail space, and a new school.
“Creating this new school fulfills a promise we made to the residents of Lower Manhattan, especially those who have children,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.
Construction is due to begin about a year from now on the space between Beekman and Spruce streets next door to the NYU Downtown Hospital and Pace University. When it is finished, slated for September 2008, it will include a five-story kindergarten through eight school that will seat up to 600 students.
“It will support our goal of establishing Lower Manhattan as a family-friendly neighborhood,” said Bloomberg.
Lower Manhattan is currently the fastest growing residential community in the city, so building a school there, says state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, just makes sense.
“There is no better sign that a community is safe, growing, and a desirable place to live and work than when leaders come together to announce the creation of a new public school,” said Silver.
The idea was hatched by Silver, who represents the district. It is the first time a school will be built on private land, at a cost of $$65 million.
Developer Bruce Ratner says he's happy to be part of the project.
“It is an effort, putting a school in a large residential building. It's giving up a certain amount of residential units,” said Ratner. “But I think both my interest in education, the speaker’sm the mayor’s and the chancellor’s, impelled us to do this.”
With student enrollment in the district expected to grow by more than 3,000 in the next five years, it couldn't come at a better time.
- Jennifer Rainville
The latest in the rebuilding effort in Lower Manhattan? A one-million square foot building just down the road from City Hall that will house apartments, condos, retail space, and a new school.
“Creating this new school fulfills a promise we made to the residents of Lower Manhattan, especially those who have children,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.
Construction is due to begin about a year from now on the space between Beekman and Spruce streets next door to the NYU Downtown Hospital and Pace University. When it is finished, slated for September 2008, it will include a five-story kindergarten through eight school that will seat up to 600 students.
“It will support our goal of establishing Lower Manhattan as a family-friendly neighborhood,” said Bloomberg.
Lower Manhattan is currently the fastest growing residential community in the city, so building a school there, says state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, just makes sense.
“There is no better sign that a community is safe, growing, and a desirable place to live and work than when leaders come together to announce the creation of a new public school,” said Silver.
The idea was hatched by Silver, who represents the district. It is the first time a school will be built on private land, at a cost of $$65 million.
Developer Bruce Ratner says he's happy to be part of the project.
“It is an effort, putting a school in a large residential building. It's giving up a certain amount of residential units,” said Ratner. “But I think both my interest in education, the speaker’sm the mayor’s and the chancellor’s, impelled us to do this.”
With student enrollment in the district expected to grow by more than 3,000 in the next five years, it couldn't come at a better time.
- Jennifer Rainville