Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Ground Broken for New Jersey Charter School

  • 05/08/18

Friends of BelovED Community Charter School 2, Inc. (Friends 2) and the project team of Urbahn Architects and construction manager Hollister Construction Services have broken ground for the new BelovED Community Charter School’s Middle School building. The new school will be situated on a half-acre parcel of land in Jersey City, N.J. New Jersey Community Capital and Provident Bank have provided construction financing of $12.5 million for the project.

BelovED Charter School

BelovED Community Charter School (“BelovED”) is named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of the “Beloved Community.” The school currently serves 960 students.

The building’s façade will feature Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), a non-load bearing, exterior wall cladding on steel studs, with Batt insulation. Energy efficiency will be also improved by thermally- proficient low emissivity (low-e) windows with high visible transmittance (VT) properties that will allow increased amounts of natural light into the school’s interiors.

The construction team will address several logistical and technical challenges, including working on a small site with almost full lot coverage by the building and elevated playground, which prevents storage of materials on site. Hollister will carefully pre-plan and schedule deliveries of all materials to be trucked in as needed for immediate installation. In addition, the crews will work in close proximity to existing townhouses. In order to eliminate any impact on the neighboring properties, construction workers will pre-auger all piles, removing the need for prolonged, vibration-inducing pile driving.

Featured

  • Porter Family Center

    Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Indiana University Launches Capital Campus in D.C.

    Indiana University recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new IU Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., according to university news. The eight-story facility will provide a central hub for the university’s existing programs and business operations based in D.C., uniting them under one roof and providing the opportunity to expand.

  • Cleveland High School Breaks Ground on Modernization

    Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore., recently announced that construction has begun on a modernization project for Cleveland High School, according to a news release. The existing building will be replaced with a new, 300,000-square-foot facility at the same site.