Museum District private school expansion to include $18 million building

In the Museum District, space is at a premium. That’s why the Presbyterian School of Houston off Oakdale and Main is building a 46,000-square-foot space built up four stories rather than sprawling out, said Mark Carleton, school headmaster.

Instead of a boxy structure, Carleton describes the new $18 million elementary school as more of a building splayed open, one with a lot of glass that brings in natural light and mirrors the aesthetic of the nearby Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Flexible learning spaces will be prominent throughout the building.

expand

Courtesy Presbyterian School

The new school will open by fall 2019. San Francisco-based architecture firm Gensler designed the building while Houston-based W.S Bellows Construction Corp. is the contractor.

It’s the first expansion in 15 years for the school for children ages 3 to eighth grade. Currently, the 575 students learn in classrooms within the First Presbyterian Church. When the new building is complete, renovations will begin for the middle school, which will remain inside the church.

“First, we’re interested in extending the mission (of the school) to a wider cross-section of the city,” Carleton said. “We can’t accommodate the demand we’re experiencing in that facility.”

So far, the school has raised about $14 million in its capital campaign out of its goal of $18 million to $20 million. Large donors include two individuals who’ve each given $1 million and The Brown Foundation, which also donated $1 million. The McNair, Elkins, Cullen and Webre Foundations all gave $500,000 while the Fondren Foundation donated $750,000. Two other local foundations, the Carruth and Vivian L. Smith Foundations, donated $250,000, according to Carleton. Some funds will come from enrollment revenue, he said.

The school has also taken out a construction loan through BBVA Compass Bank that Carleton estimates will be around $10 million, as the school is “waiting for pledges to turn into actual funds.”

But the largest donor thus far is First Presbyterian Church itself, which owns the land the school will sit on. The church is leasing the land to the school at the rate of $1 per year, for 75 years - an in-kind donation Carleton estimates is worth $3 million.

The land used to have an apartment complex on the far eastern edge that was torn down late last year, Carleton said. Harris County appraisal records for the address of where the school will be (40 Oakdale) show First Presbyterian Church as the owner, prior to that the owner listed was Dale Avenue Partners from 2001. According to tax filings, Dale Avenue is operated exclusively “for the purpose of holding title to property and distributing income, if any, to First Presbyterian Church of Houston.”

This isn’t the only private school expansion happening around Houston. Several projects have begun across the city.