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Charter school signs lease for building planned in Inwood

Zeta scores 124K sf at 400 West 219th Street

Zeta Charter Schools CEO Emily Kim and a rendering of 400 West 219th Street (Zeta Schools, GF55 Architects)
Zeta Charter Schools CEO Emily Kim and a rendering of 400 West 219th Street (Zeta Schools, GF55 Architects)

The growing Zeta Charter Schools has signed a long-term lease to occupy a planned 124,000-square-foot building at the northern tip of Manhattan.

The new Zeta Inwood is expected to open in time for the 2023-24 school year at 400 West 219th Street, a half-acre lot along Ninth Avenue on which Bolivar Development will construct an eight-story building. Bolivar’s Peter Fine acquired the site in March for $16 million, The Real Deal reported. The architect of record is GF55 Architects.

Transwestern partners Lindsay Ornstein and Stephen Powers and Senior Vice President Thomas Hines provided tenant advisory services for Zeta.

Zeta Charter Schools currently has four city elementary schools — three in the Bronx and one in Upper Manhattan.

With 33 classrooms, the new school will serve students in pre-K through eighth grade. Along with a cafeteria, the building will have collaborative office space for teachers and staff plus specialty rooms to support dance, yoga, Taekwondo and music.

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In a statement, Emily Kim, CEO of Zeta Charter Schools, said, “Having the opportunity to work with ground-up construction ensures that we create, develop and provide the exceptional facility that the students and families of Washington Heights and Inwood deserve.”

The campus will include multiple outdoor play areas, one of which will be a 10,000-square-foot rooftop playground and another on a lower floor setback designed for the youngest students. The building will also feature an indoor basketball court.

Ornstein said Zeta’s search for space took three and a half years, but the project, from site purchase to design development, took just six months.

The transaction was structured to accommodate a phased-in occupancy as the school transitions from its current Manhattan location at 652 West 187th Street.

Transwestern previously represented Zeta in deals for Bronx schools at 425 Westchester Avenue, 1910 Arthur Avenue and 1475 Macombs Road/1325 Jerome Avenue.