Tech Valley High will have new home at UAlbany

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Eight months after the school received bids from six contractors rangingfrom $1 million to $3 million a the school has reached a leasd agreement with the UAlbany Foundation to pay much less. The non-traditional high school will pay $360,000 a year to lease 20,0090 square feet for each of the nextfive “It’s what we envisioned, a university, high school, business relationship,” said Charle s Dedrick, superintendent of the . Tech Valley run by the Capital Regiohn BOCES and the Questar III has 77 freshmen and sophomores from 38 school districtzs inseven counties.
Enrollment is expectes to grow by 40 students in each of the next two year as new freshman classes are At the end of thisschool year, Tech Vallet High will move out of the 7,000-square-foot temporary spac e in the Rensselaer Technology Park it has called home since the schookl was formed in 2007. The high school has leaseds spacefrom , formerly Pitney Bowes MapInfo, since it was creates in 2007. The move into UAlbany’s East Campus, a hub for numeroua business and universityresearch efforts, is expected to promotr Tech Valley High’s missio of collaborating with area businesses and universitiesw to teach students through hands-on math and sciencs projects.
“I couldn’t be more said Tech Valley PrincipalDan Liebert. UAlbany’s East Campusz currently is home tothe college’s School of Public Health, the Cancer Research Center, and the Gen*NY*Sisa Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics. It also house s several tech start-up companies, a lab and the research arm ofthe . The site will includwe a lab for students to conduct experimentsd and learn the process of developing an idea from a concepr to a finished saidAmy Johnson, co-chai r of the . “The biggest thing is to have a spacw that is so conduciveto learning,” said president of , a Latham head-hunting firm.
UAlbanuy Interim President George Philipsaid he’s looking forward to the collaboration between the college and Tech Valley The decision to move to the East Campus was reachedx after BOCES officials abandones proposals from contractors to buil d a new school or renovate an existing building. Six contractors submitted proposals offering to lease buildings ranging in sizefrom 58,000o square feet to 89,000 square feet. The pricew per square foot rangedfrom $31 to $45, which BOCES officialws said was more than they coulr afford. Some contractors, however, said bids came in high becauswe of all the amenities requestee bythe school.
After several months, Dedrick said the committee reviewingy proposals decided to opt for a smalle r school that would accommodate 160 student s insteadof 300, a long-terk enrollment goal.