Emily Kim, CEO of Zeta Charter Schools and a rendering of 400 West 219th Street (Zeta Schools, GF55 Architects)
The growing Zeta Charter Schools have signed a long-term lease to occupy a planned 124,000 square foot building on the northern tip of Manhattan.
The new Zeta Inwood is slated to open in time for the 2023-24 school year at 400 West 219th Street, a half-acre lot along Ninth Avenue on which Bolivar Development will build an eight-story building. The reference architect is GF55 Architects.
Transwestern partners Lindsay Ornstein and Stephen Powers and Senior Vice President Thomas Hines provided tenant advisory services for Zeta.
Zeta Charter Schools currently has four elementary schools in the city, three in the Bronx and one in Upper Manhattan.
With 33 classrooms, the new school will accommodate students from kindergarten to eighth grade. In addition to a cafeteria, the building will have collaborative workspaces for teachers and staff, as well as specialized rooms for dance, yoga, taekwondo and music.
In a statement, Emily Kim, CEO of Zeta Charter Schools, said, “Having the opportunity to work with base construction ensures that we create, develop and provide the exceptional facilities that students and families in Washington Heights and Inwood deserve. . “
The campus will feature several outdoor play areas, one of which will be a 10,000 square foot rooftop play area and another on the ground floor designed for younger students. The building will also include an indoor basketball court.
Ornstein said Zeta’s space search took three and a half years, but the project, from buying the site to developing the design, only took six months.
The transaction has been structured to allow for progressive occupancy as the school moves out of its current Manhattan location at 652 West 187th Street.
Transwestern previously represented Zeta in transactions for schools in the Bronx at 425 Westchester Avenue, 1910 Arthur Avenue and 1475 Macombs Road / 1325 Jerome Avenue.
