An affiliate of
Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, a network of public charter schools in Milwaukee, has purchased a 6-acre site on the city's south side
where it is planning to build a new $55 million school.
The property at 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave. is s currently occupied by Ascension Wisconsin Medical Arts Pavilion. It was sold by an Ascension affiliate for $4.4 million, according to state records.
Carmen also recently received approval from Milwaukee's Board of Zoning Appeals for its plans.
The school would be the first ground-up project that Carmen has done.
Founded in 2007, Carmen runs three high schools, two middle schools and one elementary school in Milwaukee, but thus far all of its locations have been either co-located in Milwaukee Public Schools locations or in renovated schools.
The new school would primarily be used for existing Carmen students, according to
Ivan Gamboa, Carmen’s board chair.
With approximately 124,000 square feet of space and capacity for up to 1,100 students, the school will offer state of the art learning and multi-purpose spaces, according to Gamboa. Carmen currently has about 2,100 students enrolled. Plans show a new 70,200-square-foot turf athletic field would also be built on the site.
The planned school is a few blocks away from Carmen Southeast, at 2500 W. Oklahoma Ave., where the school is co-located with Casimir Pulaski High School, an MPS school. Carmen leases its space there from MPS. In April, a
resolution was introduced to the MPS Board of Directors to not renew Carmen’s lease at the school as well as Carmen’s space at 1712 S. 32nd St., where Carmen South is co-located with Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes Elementary School.
Carmen will still lease space at these MPS locations until the 2026-’27 school year, and MPS documents say that Carmen has the option to lease space at other MPS schools.
