The Arlington (Virginia) district is poised to approve a deal to relocate Arlington Community High School to Amazon’s HQ2 campus.
Arlington Now reports that the district plans to sign a 30-year lease with Amazon for more than 30,000 square feet of space at 1450 S. Eads Street in the Pentagon City neighborhood.
The school will occupy four levels in the building and have a separate entrance. Amazon is providing the space at no cost, except for routine maintenance and repairs estimated at $25,000 per year.
Arlington Community High School serves about 300 students, most beyond traditional high-school age and immigrants or those whose native language is not English. Both daytime and evening classes are offered in order to accommodate students’ work schedules.
It began life in the 1980s as the Arlington Mill High-School Continuation Program. The school adopted its current name in 2016 when it moved to a building adjacent to the Arlington Career Center.
After that building was razed, the high school relocated to leased space in the Ballston neighborhood.
Final design and construction modifications for the Amazon space are nearing completion. The proposed lease gives the school system the ability to depart the space by giving 120 days’ notice.
One final procedural hurdle remains. The school system must obtain a special-use permit from the county government, so that the space may be used for educational purposes.
