Plans for First New Elementary School in Greenpoint in Over 125 Years

The new elementary school will be located at 257 Franklin Street in Greenpoint adding capacity in School District 14. Photo Courtesy of the SCA.

A Series of Public Meetings Yields Community Support for the Approximately 450-Seat School

NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) President and CEO Nina Kubota announced plans to move forward with design and construction of a new, state-of-the-art elementary school at 257 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The new school, to be located within School District 14, will help address increasing enrollment demands in the area and provide a modern, fully accessible, and environmentally sustainable learning environment for local students.

The existing schools in Greenpoint are among the oldest in the entire NYC Public Schools portfolio; P.S. 34 was built in 1867, P.S. 110 was built in 1895, and P.S. 31 was built in 1900. These three elementary schools already exceed or are rapidly approaching full capacity, and they are nearly a mile away from the areas of major residential development along the Greenpoint waterfront. Greenpoint has experienced significant and ongoing residential growth in the past two decades, and the need for additional school seats is evident. The new elementary school will offer approximately 450 seats, ensuring that families in the neighborhood have a convenient and accessible educational option.

Nestled within the overall Greenpoint Landing development, the 20,000 square foot lot at 257 Franklin Street has been envisioned for the development of a public school since 2010. The site is ideally suited for the new school, with street frontage on both Franklin and Dupont Streets, allowing for easy access for students, school buses, and families. The building is expected to be a five-to six-story structure featuring a play yard, full air conditioning, ADA accessibility, along with an all-electric design to enhance sustainability. Additionally, the school will serve as a valuable community resource, potentially functioning as a voting site, meal distribution center, and cooling center during the summer months. 

As part of the SCA’s commitment to ensuring robust community engagement, the SCA hosted two town halls, and attended two in-person Community Board 1 meetings. After this outreach, the Community Board passed a unanimous resolution in support of the new school. 

As the project commences, the SCA will voluntarily enroll the site in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) Voluntary Cleanup Program. This program includes additional layers of regulatory review from NYSDEC and public engagement, allowing for further oversight and input from all stakeholders.

For more information including the environmental site assessment and investigation, videos from the two town halls and Q&A documents from all four meetings, visit the SCA’s website here. 

For more information regarding the former NuHart site, please visit NYS DEC’s Document Repository.

The SCA is committed to fostering an enriching educational environment, designing new school buildings that feature modern classrooms, advanced technology, and versatile learning spaces to ensure that they meet the diverse needs of NYC’s student population. SCA builds schools with green spaces and environmentally friendly materials, promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship. 

As part of the SCA’s previous 2020-2024 Capital Plan, the SCA included nearly $1.2 billion in funding for twenty-five new school buildings adding more than 11,000 seats in Brooklyn. In addition, with the support of our elected officials, we have ushered in the SCA’s newly adopted 2025-2029 Capital Plan that provides funding for another 33,417 seats citywide.

The SCA will continue to invest in creating new seats, not only in areas of current overcrowding and projected growth, but also to help schools comply with state legislation requiring smaller class sizes. The SCA will also continue its work promoting healthier school environments, advocating for better health and nutrition, and broadening opportunities for physical education, as well as investing in existing infrastructure to provide better facilities for NYC’s students, teachers, and staff.

For additional information on the New York City School Construction Authority, please visit www.nycsca.org.

About the SCA

The School Construction Authority’s (SCA) mission is to design and construct safe, attractive, and environmentally sound public schools for children throughout the many communities of New York City. We are dedicated to building and modernizing schools in a responsible, cost-effective manner while achieving the highest standards of excellence in safety, quality, and integrity.

Established by the New York State Legislature in December 1988, the SCA has provided over 333,000 new school seats to New York City students, and protected, repaired, and upgraded over 1,800 schools in over 1,400 school buildings with over 12,500 capital improvement projects.