nothin Wrecking Ball Closes In On MLK School | New Haven Independent

$1.5M Price Set For
Sale Of MLK School

Melissa Bailey Photo

The city has set a $1.5 million price for a proposed sale of a vacant Newhallville middle school to a charter school group. The deal got its first needed OK from The City Plan Commission.

Commissioners unanimously voted last Wednesday night to approve the sale of the Martin Luther King elementary school at 580 Dixwell Ave. to Elm City College Preparatory, Inc./, part of the Achievement First charter school organization. Achievement First plans to knock the building down and build a new three-level, $35 million, 75,000-square-foot charter high school for 550 students. The new building will house Achievement First Amistad High School, a charter high school in a leased space on Prince Street.

The property’s assessed value (70 percent of its estimated market value) is $2.016 million, according to the Vision Appraisal database.

The land disposition agreement next needs approval from the Board of Aldermen. And the project will need zoning relief from the Board of Zoning Appeals. 

The bunker-like MLK school, which totals 24,000, was built in 1968. The property is valued at $2,880,300 million, according to a 2011 appraisal.

Thomas MacMillan Photo

Lisa Desfosses (at right in photo), Achievement First’s senior director of facilities, told the commissioners that the new high school will have 100 parking spaces and an athletic field. She said that Achievement First has been working with the local community and has come to an agreement to allow people occasionally to use the facilities after school hours.

Desfosses said the plan is to have the school built and open by July 2014.

Commissioner and Westville Alderman Adam Marchand expressed some discomfort voting on the matter since it was a last-minute addition to the City Plan agenda that he hadn’t had time to study. He said he was reassured that Newhallville Alderwomen Delphine Clyburn and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus are supporting the plan. The two women had submitted a letter supporting the deal.

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the deal. It will next receive a public hearing in front of the Community Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 25.

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