City Announces Plan for New Elementary School Downtown

Plans are underway for the construction of a 476-seat elementary school to address overcrowding issues in downtown Manhattan.

The new school will be built at 77 Greenwich Street, announced The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) in a news release on Thursday, Jan. 14. The SCA made a framework deal with Trinity Place Holdings Inc, a real estate company, to build the school within its new mixed-used development project. The design for the school is expected to be completed this summer.

"Today is a big step in the community's long push for a simple idea  — school capacity should grow as a neighborhood grows, not after a crisis has hit," State Senator Daniel Squadron says in the release.

The announcement came as welcome news to the Overcrowding School Task Force. According to reports, the task force has been pushing for more school seats downtown for years in response to the overburdening of its current facilities. District 1 city council member Margaret Chin, a member of the task force quoted in the release, says the announcement is a victory for parents and leaders in lower Manhattan.