Collegiate Churches closes Collegiate School deal, files plans

Residential conversion to house 66 units across 198,000 sf

Collegiate School COOKFOX
Rendering of 378 West End Avenue on the Upper West Side (credit: COOKFOX)

UPDATED, 5:10 p.m., Aug. 25: After closing on the property’s purchase last week, the Collegiate Churches of New York filed plans today for an 198,000-square-foot residential conversion of the historic Collegiate School on the Upper West Side, The Real Deal has learned.

The organization aims to replace the school’s existing 12-story building at 260 West 78th Street with an 18-story residential building, according to a Department of Buildings filing Tuesday.

The redevelopment will house 66 residential units across 198,000 square feet at both the new structure and an existing, connected building at 378 West End Avenue, which the project will “preserve and rehabilitate,” the Collegiate Churches said in a release.

The 66 apartments will include four duplex units, with the top-floor duplex featuring an outdoor roof space. Building amenities will include an 18-car garage as well as a game room, fitness center and library, according to the filing.

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COOKFOX is designing the project, which will feature “terraced planted setbacks” inspired by surrounding Upper West Side architecture.

The Collegiate Churches of New York closed on its $125 million acquisition of the Collegiate School property — a deal previously valued at $97 million — on Friday, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed. Funds generated by the planned redevelopment of the site will support the Collegiate Churches’ charitable programs and the preservation of its nearby West End Church building, the organization said.

The historic all-boys school will use proceeds from the deal, agreed in 2013, to build a new 10-story building within the Riverside South development site, located 16 blocks south of its current location.

While the Collegiate Churches and the Collegiate School “share a historical relationship” and similar names, the two are separate and autonomous organizations. The Collegiate School – the oldest independent school in the country – counts the likes of John F. Kennedy Jr., David Duchovny and Chris Schlank among its alumni.