Illinois: Chicago Math & Science Academy

Since 2007, the Chicago Math & Science Academy (CMSA) has consistently ranked as one of the top performing charter high schools in Chicago.  One hundred percent of its senior class was admitted to college in 2009.  

CMSA decided to expand to a larger facility in 2007 and secured $10 million in financing for this purpose.  When the financial crisis hit in 2008, however, some of the financing fell through.  Through the rest of the year, IFF worked with Delaware Place Bank, a remaining investor, to reaffirm its commitment to the project.  To ensure that CMSA could open for the 2008-2009 school year, IFF stepped in with $5.4 million in facility and equipment loans.  IFF credit enhancement also eased interest payments on a $5 million loan from Delaware Place Bank.  CMSA ultimately acquired its new 54,000 square-foot facility and renovated it.  As a result, CMSA can now serve 120 more students. 

Wisconsin: Seeds of Health, Inc.

Veritas High School, part of the Seeds of Health (“Seeds”) charter school network, offers nearly 200 students the chance to get a comprehensive college preparation education.  It is open and free to all City of Milwaukee residents, and in 2009, 95 percent of its graduates were accepted to colleges and universities.  In 2008, Veritas was named one of the top three high schools in Milwaukee by US News and World Report, and demand for spots has since jumped.  Seeds has also seen a growing demand for its high performing elementary and middle school programs and is planning to open a new virtual high school this fall.

Over the past year, IFF has loaned $1.25 million to expand Veritas High School and provided real estate consulting services to help the agency locate, evaluate, and secure new homes for the middle and virtual schools.  The 6,600 square-foot Veritas addition will allow 70 more students to join the top-ranked school.  The new middle school space will accommodate 160 more students and the virtual campus will provide 300 students with an alternative to the traditional classroom setting.  IFF’s financing for Veritas has been combined with funds from PAVE, a Milwaukee advocate for education.  The Walton Family Foundation contributed funds to both the Veritas project and IFF’s real estate consulting services.

Missouri: Grand Center Arts Academy

IFF and Peoples National Bank are providing financing to renovate two buildings that make up the historic Grand Center for Performing Arts Center—Beaux Arts Building and Pythius Hall.  Located in St. Louis’s art district, these interconnected buildings have been a physical and financial challenge to redevelop for years.  Now, they will be the future home of the Grand Center Arts Academy (GCAA), St. Louis’s first charter school for visual and performing arts.  GCAA will be part of the Confluence Academy (CA) charter network and will be managed by American Quality Schools.

To finance the $25.2 million project, IFF is providing CA with a 10-year, $1-million leasehold improvement loan that will be combined with New Markets, Brownfield, and Historic Tax Credits.  The renovated facility will provide GCAA with 50,000 square feet when the school opens in August and an additional 40,000 square feet as the school grows.  The $12 million allocated toward labor and material costs will create more than 100 construction jobs.  Read more about the project in the St. Louis Business Journal’s feature article, “Beaux Arts rehab is grand.”

Missouri: Académie Lafayette Charter School

Founded in 1998, Académie Lafayette is Missouri’s first charter school.  It teaches all of its classes in French and immerses its students in Francophone cultures.

As the highest performing charter school in Missouri, Académie Lafayette's enrollment has grown from 252 when it opened in 1999 to 575 today.  When the financial crisis stalled plans to acquire a new and larger facility, the school delayed the project and instead took out a one-year lease on additional classroom space.

To make sure that Académie Lafayette could accommodate new students, IFF loaned the charter school $250,000 to add four new classrooms for 80 additional students. According to David Cozad, board president, Académie Lafayette’s "success also brings challenges, including high demand and facility/space issues. That's why it is so important that charter schools have places like IFF to turn to for assistance.”

Indiana: Stonegate Early College High School

Stonegate Early College High School (SECHS), a charter school in Indianapolis, lets students earn college credits at Ivy Tech Community College while they are still in high school, and pays for student tuition at the community college.  It has the seventh highest graduation rate in the Indianapolis metro area at 85 percent, and this year, one of its students will be the first in Indiana to graduate with an associate’s degree from Ivy Tech while still in high school.

In the summer of 2009, after the school changed authorizers and restructured, IFF provided SECHS with a $750,000 permanent financing loan to help it get a fresh start at a new facility.  At its new location in Warren Township, SECHS is in close proximity to two K-8 charter schools whose students need a high school alternative.  SECHS can now also serve students from the township’s struggling public high school.  Read more about SECHS in the Indianapolis Star article “Teen gets Ivy Tech degree before high school graduation.”

Real Estate: Chicago Charter School Foundation

The Chicago Charter School Foundation (CCSF) is an IFF loan and real estate customer.  CCSF manages 14 charter school campuses, both leased and owned, in the City of Chicago.  In 2006 IFF conducted a Strategic Facilities Assessment for CCSF to provide a baseline conditions report on the nine campuses CCSF managed at that time.  In late 2009 CCSF retained IFF’s real estate team to re-assess the nine original campuses and assess five new campuses for the first time.  The assessment of CCSF’s 14 charter school facilities, totaling nearly one million square feet and serving more than 8,900 students, is our most comprehensive Strategic Facilities Assessment to date. 

IFF completed the Strategic Facilities Assessment in April 2010.  IFF prioritized areas for facility improvement under three categories—accessibility guidelines and requirements; code compliance and life safety; and structural and building systems.  Recommendations were issued for the immediate term (zero to two years after the assessment), intermediate term (two to five years after the assessment), and long term (more than five years after the assessment).  IFF also prepared cost estimates for the recommended improvements and provided CCSF with suggestions to streamline its facilities management and maintenance operations.  

To learn what IFF Real Estate Services can do for you, please contact David Reynolds at 312 596 5102 or dreynolds@iff.org.

Policy: Choosing Performance

Later this month IFF will release Choosing Performance: An Analysis of School Location and Performance in Milwaukee.  IFF has been studying the distribution of performing schools in urban school districts since 2003, and its methodology and analysis have informed the education reform efforts of school systems in Chicago, St. Louis, and Denver. 

Choosing Performance finds that – despite the broad choices available to families among hundreds of traditional public, charter and private schools – a majority of Milwaukee children do not have the opportunity to enroll in a school that meets state standards, and that the need for better performing schools is concentrated in eight Milwaukee neighborhood areas.  The report will be available on IFF’s website in late May.

Technical Assistance: Can I Green My Existing Building?

IFF continues its series of Technical Assistance Worksheets and Podcasts exploring what green design means for nonprofits. This month, David Reynolds, Vice President of Real Estate Services, will answer “Can I Green My Existing Building?”

If you have questions about green design, or any of IFF’s Real Estate Consulting Services, please contact David Reynolds at 312 596 5102 or dreynolds@iff.org.