Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is on its way to opening a new public school in Alexandria's West End.
On Friday, the school system closed on the purchase of 1703 N. Beauregard St. Instead of building a completely new school for 600 students, ACPS will instead renovate the existing building. That change reduced the potential cost of the new school by more than $39 million.
The four-story office building was constructed in 1998.
“We are excited to finalize the purchase of this building, which is an important step towards achieving the goals set forth in the ACPS 2025: Equity for All Strategic Plan. As space in urban settings becomes more constrained, it is important for us to continue to use innovative practices to address our capacity needs,” said ACPS Superintendent Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr.
This isn't the first time Alexandria has repurposed an office building as a school. Right next door at 1701 N. Beauregard St., ACPS opened Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School in a former office building. Instead of years to build, retrofitting the building that became the school took just 11 months (see a video about the process here).
Before turning into a school of its own, the building at 1703 N. Beauregard St. will be used as swing space while both George Mason Elementary and Cora Kelly School are renovated or rebuilt.
"After the need for swing space is fulfilled, the facility will transition into a new 600-student school, either for elementary or secondary use, which the School Board will decide at a later date. There are ongoing discussions on how to best use the property’s campus-style feature for a new school in relation to its neighbor, Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School.
“The success of Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School, along with nationwide examples of commercial space being converted for school purposes, proves that the retrofit of commercial spaces can be fiscally responsible and provide an equitable, high quality learning environment for students” said Dr. Alicia Hart, acting chief of facilities and operations.
