A new school is on its way to the Hunters Point South Development site in Long Island City.
On Jan. 17, officials, parents and students gathered in between 56th and 57th Avenues in Long Island City took part in a ground breaking ceremony for the new four which was touted as a great victory for a community struggling with over crowded schools.
“Over the last decade, Long Island City has experienced a building and baby boom, and our community desperately needs more schools to keep up with growth,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
The new school in the large development site, will seat 612 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade and is expected to open in September 2021.
The school will be fully air conditioned and will feature all the normal amenities of an elementary school such as a library, cafeteria, a hybrid gymnasium/auditorium (a gymnatorium) and outdoor playgrounds. It will be fully accessible and house 20 standard classrooms and two special education rooms. Luxuries like an early childhood playground, two reading room, a speech resource room and a music suite will also be a part of the state-of-the-art school.
“As Long Island City continues to grow, it is imperative that we create neighborhood schools that are worthy of the children who will attend them,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz in a press release. “With the construction of the state-of-the-art P.S. 375, we are doing exactly that.”
The Hunters South Point is a 5,000 acre development site that will feature two affordable and senior residential buildings currently referred to as Parcel F and Parcel G. The The new school is being constructed in Parcel F, which is currently a vacant lot.
According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation, when construction on the 30-acre development is complete, it will feature local retail, a community facility, arts and cultural space, a water-based park.
