ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The East Side of Allentown soon will have a new state-of-the-art school for more than 1,000 young students, according to plans presented Monday night.
Allentown School District officials and project consultants led dozens of residents through a detailed overview of the proposed 208,000-square-foot facility during a state-mandated public hearing at Community services for Children.
The building's layout is shaped like a capital F. One wing is expected to serve about 800 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, while the middle school wing is expected to serve about 400 students in grades 6-8.
Those three-story instructional wings will include classrooms, support hubs, learning commons and group rooms that can accommodate special education programs.
They will be connected by a spine — “a unifying broad corridor” to be known as the school’s Main Street — which will house gyms, multipurpose rooms and the cafeteria, according to Stephen Behrens, a principal for Breslin Architects.
“It is going to [be] an exceptional school facility for students. I wish I would have learned in a place like that. The schools that I went to look like the schools we have here in Allentown currently."ASD Superintendent Carol Birks
He narrated a virtual flyover of plans for the new school, highlighting several design features that will create a “very welcoming gateway” to the school’s campus.
They included an athletic field along Hanover Avenue and green spaces throughout the almost 17-acre property.
Planners also are developing a walking track and other features behind the school.
The project will help anchor City Center's Northridge development on the sprawling 196-acre property that housed the Allentown State Hospital campus.
K-8 Academy the best option: District
Officials and crews are set to soon officially break ground on the new school, with the district expecting it to be completed during the 2027-28 school year.
Allentown School District Superintendent Carol Birks said she is “really excited” to see construction start.
“It is going to [be] an exceptional school facility for students,” Birks said. “I wish I would have learned in a place like that. The schools that I went to look like the schools we have here in Allentown currently.”
The Allentown K-8 Academy will “relieve overcrowding” in city elementary and middle schools, boost operational efficiencies and create “a modern hub and community resource for the East Side of Allentown."Robert Whartenby, ASD chief operating officer
The new school — named the Allentown K-8 Academy in planning documents — is projected to cost up to $136 million.
About $100 million will go to building and construction costs, while the rest of that money will cover architect fees, site development and a contingency fund.
District officials plan to issue bonds to pay for the project. That could push the district’s millage rate up about 1 mill, which would see residents pay about $100 more in real estate taxes per $100,000 in property value.
The district has been weighing whether to build a new school for about a decade, according to district Chief Operations Officer Robert Whartenby.
School board members voted four years ago to build a fifth middle school, a plan that since “morphed into” the K-8 Academy — and one that will allow the district to renovate other buildings in phases, Whartenby said.
The academy also will “relieve overcrowding” in city elementary and middle schools, boost operational efficiencies and create “a modern hub and community resource for the East Side of Allentown,” Whartenby said.
Officials also considered building two new facilities to replace Harrison Morton and Raub middle schools.
