San Francisco’s newest public school in Mission Bay will be partially funded by a $2 million community benefit gift from Alexandra Real Estate Equities, Inc, the San Francisco United School District announced on Monday.
SFUSD will use the donation to establish an endowment for the campus to help manage the facility, cover grounds, custodial and maintenance costs and support “necessary” activities, programs, and capital projects for the campus, according to the press release.
“We know that schools are at the heart of a neighborhood, and we are extremely grateful to Alexandria for helping us bring to fruition a new school in Mission Bay,” SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews said in the statement.
Mission Bay has seen sizable growth in housing, healthcare jobs and entertainment in recent years, but it’s long been without a public elementary school of its own.
This site near the Chase Center was designated in the 1998 Mission Bay South Design for Development plan, and the San Francisco Board of Education passed a resolution calling for the District to begin development of the school site in 2017.
By about 2025, the new school is expected to serve roughly 500 pre-kindergarten to fifth graders as well as feature a Linked Learning Hub where high school students from across the District can participate in job trainig, internships and other professional development activities.
Based in Southern California but with “clusters” nationwide, Alexandria invests in office buildings and other commercial properties that bring together individuals working within the life science and technology industries. It was a founding donor for the Mission Bay elementary school project.
Already, the real estate investment firm operats an urban campus in Mission Bay and runs an academic scholarship program that, since 2019, has provided six students from San Francisco public high schools $5,000 annually to attend a college or university of their choice and study STEM.
According to the press release, Alexandria will continue to make STEM a priority in its partnership with SFUSD on the Mission Bay elementary school project by lending its laboratory design, construction and development expertise as well as helping to to shape, enhance and facilitate the school’s STEM education opportunities.
“Alexandria’s contribution and partnership with SFUSD is a continued demonstration of our deep commitment to further enhance the thriving Mission Bay innovation cluster, as well as to foster educational opportunities in STEM; prepare students for success in the 21st century; and cultivate the next generation of life-changing innovators,” Terezia Nemeth, executive vice president and San Francisco regional market director of the firm, said in a statement.
