A former IBM campus in Somers, N.Y. may become a coed private high school that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning.
The Rockland/Westchester Journal News reports that the 723-acre office park would be transformed into a "world -class STEM, arts and design boarding and day‐school academy," according to a presentation made to the Town Board.
The school would be a for-profit entity, and the campus would serve up to 1,800 students in grades nine to 12. About 85 percent of those students are expected to live on campus, says Tim DiScipio, the head of Evergreen Ridge, the company seeking to develop the project.
The property is owned by 294 Route 100 LLC, which bought the site from IBM in 2017 for $31.75 million. The school, which is tentatively called Somers Academy, would lease the property from the landlord.
The parent company is a family-owned business based in Mexico that also bought the former PepsiCo campus in Somers.
The IBM property is currently zoned for office or college, and as a result, Evergreen Ridge will have to seek a zone change from the Town Board to move forward.
The exterior of five existing buildings, designed by architect I.M. Pei, would be maintained, and the interior would be converted to accommodate classrooms and student housing. The 3,200 parking spots on campus would be reduced to 600 to create facilities such as athletic fields.
The annual tuition is expected to be about $49,000 for residential students and $37,000 for commuting students.
The conversion of 1.2 million square feet of vacant office space into a school would significantly improve Westchester county's office market vacancy rate.
