After years of uncertainty, the city will move forward with plans to build a new elementary school at 257 Franklin St. in Greenpoint, across the street from the NuHart Plastics state Superfund site.
The building’s design is far from finished, but it’s expected to offer 450 seats across five or six stories, according to the School Construction Authority. It will be the first new elementary school constructed in the nabe since 1900.
“Our children are the future of this city, and the creation of new school spaces reflects our commitment to ensuring the needs of our communities are met,” said the city’s schools chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, in a statement. “We are so grateful that our students and families in Greenpoint will have access to 450 new elementary classroom seats in their neighborhood.”
The SCA first pitched building a school at 257 Franklin St. in 2010, but the project was halted due to community concerns over the site’s proximity to the former NuHart Plastics facility at 280 Franklin St.
The NuHart site — which was used to manufacture vinyl products from 1983 to 2004, and was home to various manufacturing and industrial businesses for 100 years before that was heavily contaminated with chemicals like trichlorethylene, polychlorinated biphenyls, and phthalates, all of which are known to cause serious health issues including various cancers.
At the time, locals asked SCA to wait until the NuHart site was cleaned up under the state Superfund program, and the agency agreed.
Now, 15 years later, remediation at the NuHart site is almost complete, and one of two new apartment buildings on the site is welcoming its first tenants. Last year, SCA started a series of public outreach sessions to re-introduce the neighborhood to the school project – and won approval from Community Board 1.
A new school is badly needed in Greenpoint, according to SCA. The nabe has seen an explosion of new development, especially along the waterfront, and has only three public elementary schools, all of which are at or above capacity. Those schools are also a mile or more away from the waterfront, the agency said, leaving families moving into new buildings near the East River without options.
The city first identified the need for a new school as part of the 2005 Greenpoint/Williamsburg rezoning, documents state. That same rezoning allowed for the development of the massive Greenpoint Landing. The developers behind Greenpoint Landing own the parcel at 257 Franklin St., and later agreed to lease it to the city for use as a school.
The site is “ideally suited” for a new school, per the SCA. The building will be fully ADA-accessible, fully air conditioned, and all-electric. Outside of school hours, the city plans to use the school as a “community resource,” offering it up as a voting site, meal distribution center, and cooling center.
“We are thrilled about the announced approval of the Greenpoint Landing school project. This new school is a much-needed addition to our district,” said District 14 Superintendent David Cintron, in a statement. “More importantly, it will provide us with the opportunity to further diversify and enrich our educational programs, ensuring that every student has access to a well-rounded and innovative learning experience.”
Despite assurances, locals still had some concerns about the safety of the site. Community Board members worried that the contaminants from the NuHart site could creep over to the school, or that the soil beneath the school might be contaminated in and of itself.
But officials said a “plume” of contaminants beneath NuHart was not moving toward the school, documents show. Even so, in 2023, the city installed a hydraulic barrier at 257 Franklin St. to keep any contaminants from leaching into the school lot.
Because some chemicals were found in the groundwater and soil vapor at 257 Franklin St., though, the school will be constructed without a basement and with a sub-slab depressurization system and a gas vapor barrier to prevent any toxic vapors from seeping up into the building. Similar systems have become ubiquitous in neighborhoods like Greenpoint and Gowanus, where many buildings stand on top of toxic soil.
The city will also enroll the site in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation Voluntary Cleanup Program, officials said, to add extra regulatory measures and opportunities for public involvement.
The VCP was “designed for sites like 257 Franklin Street,” said OER acting director Shaminder Chawla, in a statement.
“Public input is a key element of the Voluntary Cleanup Program and OER will work with SCA to ensure opportunities for public comment.” she said. “The environmental issues that will be managed at 257 Franklin Street are familiar to us and we are excited to work with SCA and its team to get the site ready for a new school for the neighborhood.”
