By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — Watch out uptown private schools, Grace Church School is moving ahead with plans to build an independent high school in Greenwich Village that will rival the best in Manhattan, school administrators said.
“We believe it will be seen as the equivalent to any other independent school,” the Grace Church School’s headmaster, George Davison, told DNAinfo. “We already rival Trinity and Dalton at the elementary level. We plan to rival them at the high school level within 10 years.”
Grace Church School received unanimous support from Community Board 2 at last month’s meeting, when the full board voted to recommend that the city allow the school to move into the historic property at 38-50 Cooper Square, which is zoned as a manufacturing space. The Board of Standards and Appeals is scheduled to vote on March 23.
“Of course, it’s not over ‘til it’s over,” said Davidson. “But we’re fairly confident. When a community board is supportive of a project and it doesn’t drastically change the use, there’s a high degree of probability that it will be approved.”
If the plan gets the green light, Grace Church School will begin planning the $18 million building project scheduled to begin in July 2011. Financing will come from fundraising and foundations, along with tuition that will cost nearly $35,000 a year.
The school plans to have a 4,500-square foot library, a gym that can be converted into a tennis court and an art room with light pouring in from skylights.
Grace Church School, which already serves pre-kindergartners through middle schoolers, will take applications for its first high school class in fall 2011 for school starting the next year. Class size will be 80 students. The high school will start with a ninth grade class but will add a grade each year as the students advance.
As part of the curriculum, students will be able to go on exchange programs in Shanghai or Delhi or take college-level classes at nearby New York University for credit.
The property at Cooper Square is currently leased by NYU for its School of Continuing and Professional Studies until summer 2011.
NYU spokesperson John Beckman told DNAinfo that its move to leave the location after more than 20 years is part of a strategy to merge the university's resources, which are currently in different locations.
An existing school building at 7 E. 12th St. will be the new home for the School of Continuing and Professional Studies next summer.
Grace Church School high school is slated for completion in early 2017.
