By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — The math adds up for taxpayers at a new public middle school on the Upper East Side where students moved into a new $45 million building Friday at no cost to the public.
The Department of Education financed construction of the five-story building at 331 East 91st Street through the Educational Construction Fund, which funds new schools through partnerships with private companies, the New York Times reported.
Under the agreement, developers DeMatteis Organization and Mattone Group paid for the Middle School 114's construction in exchange for a 75-year, $1 billion lease on the property, where they also built a residential and retail building, the New York Post reported.
“This would be a great building if we had to pay for it, but for free, it’s off the charts,” said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to the Times.
The school, also called East Side Middle School, is the first new campus to be built on the Upper East Side in close to 50 years, according to published reports.
Two construction workers, Ramadan Kurtaj and Donald Leo, were killed during the building's construction in a 2008 crane accident, the Times reported.
The 80,000 square foot building has room for 190 more students and a full-size gym, the paper reported.
