Explore Academy buys building, launches renovations
A public charter school in Journal Center has bought the building it has been leasing for more than a year and is adding millions in renovations, expanding the footprint of the facility by nearly one-third to increase its enrollment and shrink its waiting list.
Explore Academy, which had rented space in the old ITT Technical Institute building, now is the site of a $2 million construction project that will add 10,000 square feet of new classroom and office space to the existing 26,000-square-foot facility, said a school official.
Expansion also will allow Explore Academy to add a middle-school component, said Justin Baiardo, founder of the college preparatory school, which opened in 2014 and operated from several temporary sites before landing in its current office park digs.
“This is huge for us,” said Baiardo of the expansion.
He said the school, which currently has more than 300 students in the 9th to 12 grades, will grow to 450 students with sixth and seventh graders joining the ranks of the student body beginning in the 2018-19 academic year. In addition, the school is hiring 10 new staffers, including a counselor and nurse, to accommodate its growing enrollment at 5100 Masthead NE.
Baiardo said the charter school financed $9 million through a private bond to pay for the land, construction and other costs associated with the acquisition.
The school has hired AIC as its general contractor for tenant improvements. The lion’s share of the work should be wrapped up prior to the school’s August opening.