The NYC Education Construction Fund has teamed with World Wide Group, a private developer, to rebuild Art & Design H.S and P.S. 59 on Second Avenue and E. 57th Street.

The project would replace the existing schools with new state of the art facilities in a new mixed-use development containing residential and retail spaces. P.S.59 will expand by approximately 350 seats to contain 730 new students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, including 70 new seats for District 75 special education students. The High School for Art & Design would contain approximately the same number of seats 1,400 for students in grades nine through twelve. The proposed development would also include a 59-story tower on the corner of East 57th Street and Second Avenue; this residential tower will contain approximately 320 residential units, 160 rental units; 20% low to moderate-income households and 160 Co-op units. The proposed development would also include a 59-story tower on the corner of East 57th Street and Second Avenue. This residential tower will contain approximately 320 residential units, 160 rental units, 20% low- to moderate-income households, and 160 Co-op units.

Construction will occur over a five-year period with a completion in 2013. First, to be developed is the existing site of P.S. 59. This will require the temporary relocation of the school to a facility located at the former Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital Annex building, 213 E. 63rd Street for approximately three-years during construction of the new school facility. The High School for Art & Design would remain in its current facility until construction of the new school facility is completed.