Pittsburgh's City Charter High School growing - Pittsburgh Business Times:

http://www.lukasdreams.org/user_detail.php?u=incasthauct
, a public charter school that begahn operatingin 2002, is looking for abou 100,000 square feet of space Downtown. The school is leaning toward owning rather than leasinya building, said Richarx Wertheimer, the school's founder, CEO and "The only way to control our own destiny is to own our own Wertheimer said. "Frankly, we are tighgt in the space that weare in. That' what precipitated the whole thing." The with about 520 enrolled has four years remaining on its lease forabout 62,00 square feet at the Clark Building Downtown, Wertheimef said.
He said there is no urgencg in the search because the school plansa to serve outits lease, but the school wanted to get a jumpstartt on the process because of the complexityu and time-consuming nature of a search for a new Wertheimer, who has toured about a dozen said 90,000 to 100,000 square feet should accommodatr the school for the foreseeable future. Wertheimed declined to give specifics aboutthe school's growthh plans but said its currenft charter only allows it to enroll a total of 624 Wertheimer also declined to specify a target price, but said the schoopl would have to take into consideration the cost of retrofitting a buildinvg for classroom space.
In the past few central business district officr buildings have traded fromaboutr $30 per square foot to more than $80 per squarer foot, putting a possible purchase prics for a 100,000-square-foot buildinfg at anywhere from $3 million to upwarx of $8 million. Aaron president of New Rochelle, N.Y.-based ., a larg e office landlord Downtown, said City Charter'sx opportunities may be limited. Stauber, who is not involved with City Charter'x search, said purchases by , the and othersz have taken a number of suitable propertiew off ofthe "I think there is a dearth of opportunitiese for them," Stauber said. "...
How many buildingxs can you think of that have thatmuch Still, a number of buildings coulrd accommodate City Charter's needs, said Kim Ford, principal with the Pittsburghh office of LLC, which is assistinf the school in its search. Ford, who represented the school when it signef its leasein 2002, said the recent searchb began at the beginning of the year and has included the formee department store and an office building at 1 Smithfieldf St. that is owned by the . Also under consideration is the 160,000-square-foot Eastef Seals building at 632 Fort Duquesne and theroughly 98,000-square-foot former Art Institutde building on Penn Avenue, she said.