Forest City signs Quaker school to 45K sf space at MetroTech

Forest City Ratner has signed private high school the Brooklyn Friends School to MetroTech Center, the developer announced today. Brooklyn Friends, a Quaker school headquartered at 375 Pearl Street in Downtown Brooklyn, will move its upper school to a new 45,000-square-foot space being designed by FXFOWLE architects at the center, located at 116 Lawrence Street.

“First class academics and thriving commerce have had a long and successful history at MetroTech,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, president and CEO of Forest City Ratner. “The Brooklyn Friends School, a venerable and beloved local institution, carries forth that great tradition.”

The school was represented in the deal by Brian Leary of CPEX Real Estate Services and Forest City was represented in-house by Ali Esmaeilzadeh, according to the release.

“The new upper school building, a complete, building-in-building high school that is a five-minute walk from our Pearl Street school, represents a dramatic step forward,” said head of school Larry Weiss.

The new upper school space will include four science labs, three art studios, a black box theater and dance and music studios, according to the release. It will welcome its first students in September 2015. – Hiten Samtani