Plans announced for 15th neighborhood school in Poinciana
November 24, 2008
POINCIANA, FL --- With 14 neighborhood schools (K-12) already operating throughout Poinciana, the 47,000-acre master-planned community is about to house yet another school to meet the growing educational needs of its 70,000 residents and their children.
And as it has done over the years, Avatar® Properties Inc., Poinciana's developer and primary homebuilder, stepped up to the plate and made it financially feasible for the School District of Osceola (SDOC) to build the new $14.6 million elementary school on Koa Street, just west of Marigold Avenue in northwest Osceola.
The Avatar® - owned 17.55 – acre site, appraised at more than $2.4 million, was made available to the SDOC at a negotiated price of just over $832,000 which saved the SDOC over 1.5 million, according to Tony Iorio, vice president of land development for Avatar® which has donated seven other school sites (six in Poinciana) to the SDOC in the past.
"We embrace the importance of doing our part in the process of educating of today’s children and tomorrow's future leaders," said Iorio. "As a builder and developer we are just as committed to contributing to the quality education of our children as well as to the overall quality of life in our communities."
Dubbed Elementary School 'L' until a name is selected, the new 2-story school will have 110,727 sq. ft. of air-conditioned space made up of 50 classrooms with 962 student stations, according to Bob Nanni, chief of school operations for the SDOC.
The school will include a cafetorium with stage and seating capacity of 273, media center, art room, music room, computer skills lab, classrooms for exceptional student education (ESE), and administration and student services spaces.
Outdoor facilities will include a covered play area, a kindergarten and pre-K playground, ball field, basketball court, and soccer fields.
Nanni said the new school is expected to open in August 2009 with an initial enrollment of 700-750 students that will help relieve student populations at Deerwood, Chestnut and Poinciana elementary schools.
In addition to donating school sites to the SDOC, Avatar® is the first developer to donate a school site to the School Board of Polk County, and also orchestrated a land swap that gave the SDOC a more valuable and better suited piece of land for the new Liberty High School, according to Iorio.
Avatar® holds a Champion for Education award from the SDOC for its community involvement and continued financial support of local schools, and earned the Florida Department of Education's 2004-2005 Business Recognition Award for its on-going commitment to the academic performance of Florida students and for its outstanding service in the field of education.
Avatar® also supports the Foundation for Osceola Education, the county's leading non-profit education foundation which sponsors several charter schools and provides college scholarships to deserving high school seniors.
In addition, Avatar® established Osceola County's first Educational Facilities Benefit District (EFBD) for Bellalago Academy, a unique K-8 charter school that is Florida's first charter school to be managed by a school district (the SDOC). The award-winning school in Avatar's residential community of BellalagoSM is leased by the EFBD to the SDOC with whom the Foundation for Osceola Education is contracted to operate and manage the school.
For additional information about Elementary School 'L', contact Bob Nanni at (407) 343-8659. To learn more about Avatar® and Poinciana, contact Tony Iorio at (407) 933-5000, or go to the company's website at AvatarHomes.com.
