Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee has acquired a former grocery store building that will enable the school to double the size of its campus.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the school, which opened in 2015, plans to move to the site, about three miles east of its present location, in 2019.
The school has bought the 100,000-square-foot facility for $4.5 million. The existing campus has about 45,000 square feet.
Cristo Rey now has 324 students and has been adding a grade level each year since it opened. Officials project the enrollment will be 500 students when all four high school grades have been added.
"This new building will provide the space and amenities needed to continue providing our students with a high-quality education and we’re excited about the next chapter of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee,” says Andy Stith, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee president.
Officials say the new site will need significant renovation. The total cost of opening the new campus is expected to be as much as $20 million.
Cristo Rey is part of a national network of 32 work-study high schools founded in the Catholic Jesuit tradition. The school enlists local businesses to employ the students in work-study programs where students gain on-the-job experience. The students are not paid; instead, the payment goes to the school to pay down the cost of their tuition.
School planners chose the new site based on its accessibility to major roads and highways to provide easy access for families as well as to transport the students to their corporate work-study program locations. Other deciding factors included safety and security, parking availability, and enough space to optimize programming well into the future.
