Yankees' Teixeira Donates $1 Mil Toward Building Of Charter School In East Harlem
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira joined other city officials Monday to announce a partnership that will build a new charter school and affordable housing in East Harlem.
The project will turn what is now a parking lot into the new home of the DREAM Charter School and 450 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. In addition, approximately 90 units of housing will also be built.
"This really is getting all ends of the spectrum, all the needs of the city. We want to make sure that people can afford to stay in this city -- those are the ones who built this city," Bloomberg said. "We want to have a diversity of people, at economic levels and skills and everything. That's what makes New York, New York."
The $85 million, 13-story, 150,000-square-foot building is being funded by a $32.5 million grant from the New York City Department of Education's Charter Facilities Matching Grant Program.
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In addition, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corporation will contribute nearly $30 million toward the housing units.
The non-profit Harlem RBI and Teixeira will help raise $20 million via individual, corporate and foundation donations. Teixeira himself has already donated $1 million.
Teixeira said that he got nine other members of the community to "step up and give a $1 million."
"We are well on our way to raising the $20 million total," Teixeira said.
Once construction is complete, the city will take ownership of the school building while DREAM Charter will maintain and operate the school. The Housing Authority will have an option to purchase the housing units for $1 after a 15-year lending period expires.
The building, which will be located on East 104th Street at the site of the Washington Houses, is expected to break ground in the summer of 2012 and open in 2014.
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