One of the city’s most prestigious all-girls prep schools is preparing to develop an athletics facility blocks north of its Upper East Side campus.
The Nightingale-Bamford school acquired 11 parcels along East 108th Street, Crain’s reported. The school paid a total of $17.2 million across three transactions for the parcels, most of which are vacant.
The seller was East Harlem landlord Ross & Ross. Derek Cohn, who signed on behalf of the seller, could not be reached for comment by Crain’s.
Nightingale-Bamford and its $100 million endowment are based at 20 East 92nd Street, so the acquisition is nearly 20 blocks away. The properties are located between 157 and 181 East 108th streets; artist Julio Valdez was a previous occupant.
With nearly a dozen parcels added to its portfolio, Nightingale-Bamford is plotting an athletics facility for its 700-plus students. The proposed facility includes an indoor turf field, a play yard, competition and practice gyms and studio space for fitness and weight training activities.
Construction on the athletics facility is expected to begin this year.
In an announcement to the school community, head of school Paul Burke said the urban athletics center would be “like you’ll find nowhere else in the world.”
The world is already familiar with Nightingale-Bamford, as the school served as the inspiration for the book — and eventually, TV series — “Gossip Girl.” The book’s author, Cecily von Ziegesar, attended the school.
Tuition at the century-old school is now $64,470 for the year.
Nightingale awarded more than $6.5 million in financial aid towards tuition for nearly a fifth of the student body this year, according to its website.
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