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Clinton Hill's Co-op School To Open New Location in Bedford-Stuyvesant

By Camille Bautista | April 22, 2016 5:22pm | Updated on April 25, 2016 8:20am
 The Co-op School is planning a new location with a middle school at 644 Gates Ave. near Marcus Garvey Boulevard.
The Co-op School is planning a new location with a middle school at 644 Gates Ave. near Marcus Garvey Boulevard.
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DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A Brooklyn private school based in Clinton Hill is set to open a new space in Bedford-Stuyvesant by 2018, according to its representatives.

The Co-op School, which already has two locations near the Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill border, will lease about 30,000 square feet at 644 Gates Ave. for 20 years to expand with a middle school, said school director Meredith Gray.

“We’re excited about the change, we’re excited about the challenge, we’re excited for the new parents,” Gray said.

The one-story building at Gates Avenue near Marcus Garvey Boulevard currently houses retail, including a Family Dollar store.

The owner, Cheyenne Realty LLC, is looking to build an additional two stories on top for the school, sources familiar to the deal confirmed. Permits have yet to be filed for the new construction.

Retail will remain on the ground floor, said Christopher Havens, broker with Citi Habitats who represented the school in the deal. News of the plan was first reported by Crain’s.

A 3,500-square-foot multi-purpose room is slated for the school to include a cafeteria, theater, and gym, and an 8,000-square-foot rooftop playground will have space for a garden and greenhouse, according to Gray.

The building will have up to 20 classrooms, she added, and school officials are looking to move the entire student body to the Gates Avenue location.

The Co-op School, which was founded by Brooklyn parents out of a Clinton Hill brownstone in 2003, currently serves about 125 pre-school students out of 87 Irving Place and another 125 kids up to fourth grade at 40 Breevort Place.

Plans for future use of the school’s current locations have yet to be determined, Gray said.  

Many students already live in Bed-Stuy, she added, and the new space will help meet the school’s needs.

“It made sense for our families to go through middle school so they would have a home with us until high school,” Gray said.