The Dwight School, a private prep school on the Upper West Side, has signed a 20-year lease to open an athletic facility at the East River Landing co-op in East Harlem, Crain’s reported. The school will rent the 40,000-square-foot sports pavilion from 1199 Housing Corp., which owns East River Landing, a Mitchell-Lama Apartment Complex On First Avenue Between 109th And 110th Street. The sports facility and pool recently underwent $6 million in renovations, but Crain’s reported it was too costly for the co-op to maintain.
Under the partnership, Dwight, located at 291 Central Park West between 89th and 90th streets, will cover the maintenance and operation costs and is already paying for an additional $2 million worth of renovations. When the center opens in late spring, it will include the 75-foot-long pool, a school gym, exercise and locker rooms, saunas and two rooftop tennis courts.
Access to the new facilities will allow the school to create a swimming program and the gym will provide a home court for the school’s basketball team. Dwight will shuttle students across the park from its Upper West Side campus for physical education classes.
Stephen Spahn, Dwight’s chancellor, told Crain’s that the arrangement has provided an answer to a common problem among Manhattan schools, which is the need for a centralized sports facility, as well as a pool. “This gives us what other schools don’t have,” Spahn told Crain’s.
Use of the facility will be free to East River Landing’s 6,500 residents. [Crains] –Hayley Kaplan