A high school in Bayside that’s operating well over capacity will soon see a sorely needed enlargement.
Benjamin Cardozo High School will undergo an expansion that will bring approximately 548 seats to the school, Councilman Barry Grodenchik and the School Construction Authority (SCA) confirmed. The project is entering the design phase, which will take approximately a year.
The extension will be built on unused land adjacent to the property on 58th Avenue. An SCA spokesperson said the city agency estimates that the addition will open in fall 2022.
The 50,000-square-foot extension will feature additional classrooms, the SCA spokesperson noted, but the agency has not yet determined what additional amenities will be constructed.
With 3,744 students currently enrolled, Cardozo is operating at 156 percent capacity. The expansion is not meant to serve an additional student population, Grodenchik said, but to serve the existing one.
“The community and the SCA have been looking for new high school seats in Queens,” Grodenchik said. “[The expansion] is desperately needed and will go a long way to relieve the overcrowding.”
The councilman said his office will work with the SCA to minimize the effects of construction on the surrounding community.
