Three New Schools To Be Built On Creedmoor Site New Center To Accommodate Over 2,500 Students

A feasibility study for the building of a giant three-school educational complex on the Creedmoor Hospital site in Queens Village, has been launched by the City School Construction Authority (SCA), The Queens Courier has learned.
Chief beneficiaries will be an estimated 2,550 students coming from space-starved School Districts 26 and 29 in eastern Queens.
The schools will be located within an irregularly-shaped 26-acre area bounded by Grand Central Parkway, Commonwealth Boulevard, Union Turnpike, and Winchester boulevard, in east central Queens. It currently contains three buildings — two will be demolished.
The center will be developed as part of a unified architectural program, incorporating existing athletic facilities as well as open park lands into three plans. The SCA is accepting comments on the proposed plans until Jan. 20.
The new schools are a direct outgrowth of a special task force established by Queens Borough President Claire Shulman in 1997. Local elected officials, educators, and community support groups met regularly to develop plans that would utilize the unused property that was made available when New York State closed the massive Creedmoor State Hospital complex.
SCA proposals call for the following construction:
• A 1,000-seat high school will be located in Building #51, which was built by the state in 1972. The 38,000 square-foot former multi-purpose center already contains an auditorium, gymnasium, swimming pool, as well as a bowling alley. Since the building can already accommodate 200 pupils, current plans call for a new 800-seat addition to be built to this structure.
• A new 900-seat intermediate school will be built for S.D. 29 students [and there will be] construction of a new 650-seat elementary school for S.D. 26.
State Senator Frank Padavan, Assemblyman Mark Weprin, and Councilman Sheldon Leffler all joined to praise the educational aims of the project.
Leffler (D-23 C.D.) said that while the three new units would be an "important addition to the educational system," Queens actually needed 40 additional schools just to meet current enrollment. Only 17 new schools are scheduled to be built under the current capital construction program.
The SCA has already filed a legal notice of its intention to construct the schools, and while no starting date has been announced, construction of the first school may be completed some time in 2003. C.B. 13 District Manager Sally Martino-Fisher said that, despite the size of the project, her office has received no formal objections against the campus-sized project.
Task force proposals call for all new school buildings to be in character with the surrounding residential neighborhood. With extensive landscaping, the plan requires the provision of open space "to the greatest extent possible."
Constructed alongside one another, the educational buildings will be two stories high, and each classroom will accommodate 30 students.
The sloped, wooded open space located between Building #51 and the Grand Central Parkway will be preserved for passive open space purpose.
Padavan (R-11 S.D.) called the project "a positive move and big help in alleviating overcrowded schools." A big plus, he said, was the utilization of Building 51 which already had workable educational assets.
Weprin (D-24 A.D.), who also worked on the task force, said that the new schools were "desperately needed in order to keep S.D. 26 a strong district."