Andres Duarte School Project

The project involves demolition or relocation of the existing school buildings and park structures and the construction of multi-family residential buildings and redevelopment of the public park on the site. The proposed project would involve demolition or relocation of the existing MIT School buildings and Otis Gordon Sports Park structures on the six-acre western portion of the project site. The lease for the wireless communications facility on the project site is expiring and the wireless communications facility building and associated equipment would be removed. The redeveloped Otis Gordon Sports Park would include recreational fields, an open turf area, overhead structures with barbeque and picnic tables, restrooms, a snack shack, an outdoor gym park, a resurfaced tot lot, and internal meandering walkways that connect to the residential portion of the project site. Vehicular ingress and egress would be provided through two entry points on Central Avenue. The redeveloped Otis Gordon Sports Park would include 59 parking spaces, including two American Disabilities Act (ADA) spaces and two bike racks. The Duarte Preschool is currently in operation at the project site and would relocate to the northwestern portion of the Beardslee Dual Language Academy campus prior to the demolition phase of the proposed project. Following demolition and relocation of the vacant Andres Duarte Arts Academy building, the proposed project would be constructed on the seven-acre eastern portion of the project site. The residential portion of the proposed project would involve the construction of 169 townhome residential units within 25 multi-family residential buildings and one leasing office/recreation building. All residential buildings would be three stories, with a maximum height of 38 feet. The residential development would include five types of townhomes varying from 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms to 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The 3,155 square-foot leasing office and recreation building would include an exercise room, lounge areas, leasing offices, a dining room, restrooms, and an outdoor pool and deck area. The residential portion of the proposed project would include 377 total parking spaces. Internal to the project site, pedestrian walkways would be provided throughout the site with connections to the leasing office and central recreation area, residential buildings, the pedestrian corner plaza on the southeastern corner of Central Avenue and Cresfield Drive, common open space areas, and the public park portion of the project site. Landscaping, including a variety of trees, shrubs, and groundcover, would be provided throughout the residential portion of the site. Development of the project would include adding lighting to the site with outdoor on-site lighting, internal walking paths, landscaping/street frontage lights, and safety-related lighting.