New Life Church, a Southern Baptist church on Staring Lane, will donate two acres it owns at the intersection of Gardere Lane and GSRI Avenue to the Gardere Christian School, whose leaders hope to construct a modular classroom building on the site in time for the start of the next school year.
The deal, which is not yet finalized, would be a significant milestone for the small, private school, which serves 30 children from low-income families in the Gardere area. Currently, the school buses students to classes in downtown space provided by the First Presbyterian Church. But school board Chairman Dan Zito, whose wife, Nancy Zito, founded and runs the school, says the long-term goal was always to have a permanent school in the neighborhood that can serve as a resource for the community.
Under the terms of the arrangement, Gardere Christian School will sign a zero-dollar lease with the church and will make improvements to the property that, for the time being, will include a modular building with six classrooms, a lunchroom, meeting space and administrative offices. The school will also make space available to New Life’s missionary church, which serves the Gardere area.
As the two-year-old school grows, Zito says the plan is to develop the site and build a full campus that could accommodate as many as 250 students. New Life Pastor Joel Willson says his church was motivated to donate the land because they want to see the neighborhood transformed.
“The opportunity the Zitos have presented and the success they already have there is just incredible,” Willson says. “The influence will just be multiplied with a bigger school.”
The effort comes as redevelopment is taking over areas surrounding the largely blighted Gardere. To read more about new developments in and around the Gardere area in a recent Business Report cover story, click here.
