As announced at the end of the last academic year, we will relocate The École Elementary and Middle School to the building next door. After hashing out the plans and with many not-always-fascinating minutiae involved, we now intend to write to you every second week to keep you up to speed as best as possible.
As a reminder, here are a few takeaways from our letter last June:
- Moving Elementary and Middle School to 115 E 22nd St.– Maternelle is not moving
- Doubling square footage from 23,000 to 46,000 over two and a half floors.
- Creating bigger classrooms, adding more specialty classrooms, and plenty of dedicated space for everyone
- Fulfilling our objective of two classes per grade from 1st through 8th Grade
Where we are now
Since mid-August, we have been holding weekly meetings with our architects at Method Design. We’ve covered the look and feel, lighting, acoustics, classroom sizes and equipment, elevators, stairs, mechanical, and even all the outlets. This part of the process is almost at an end, with our last meeting on Thursday, October 3, focusing on the finishes. The actual layout is now finalized. We are so excited to see the school we have in mind (modern, vibrant, and spacious) coming to life, at least on paper, and we hope to have professional renderings to share with you soon!
At the same time, we have been working on filing for different permits:
- Alt 1: A permit you file when you are about to start constructing, putting up walls, etc.
- Change of use: A permit we need because there has never been a school in the new building
- Open street permit under our new address.
What’s next
In the coming weeks, after the detailed architectural plans are submitted, we expect to make the final selection of a builder, leading to the start of the construction before the end of the calendar year.
That’s it for today–we know it does not necessarily feel like a lot right now, but believe us, it’s a long process!
Looking forward to sharing more with you in the upcoming weeks and months.