Iona Prep has received site plan approval from the New Rochelle Planning Board to build a 21,000-square-foot performing arts center on its 26.2-acre campus at 255 Wilmot Road in New Rochelle.
Representatives of the Hastings-on-Hudson-based architecture firm Peter Gisolfi Associates presented plans to the board, explaining that the construction site will be in the northwest corner of the campus on about 2 acres. The location backs up to Wilmot and Stratton roads.
The new building would connect with the existing 5,000-square-foot Verni Building on campus, formally known as the Paul Verni Fine Arts Center.
Before the unanimous vote approving the site plan, the board decided there would be no significant environmental impacts from the project.
“The idea is to basically create one cohesive building out of the existing building and the new building and by doing that also creating a new place on the campus where now there is just a singular building,” Ronen Wilk of Peter Gisolfi Associates told the board. “We”™re just looking to really now create a space and connect the whole zone to the rest of the campus.”
Wilk appeared at the board meeting virtually along with Peter Gisolfi and Danny Lam of the firm.
“Currently, the performing arts activities are taking place in the gymnasium, which is inadequate to house those activities and is also a tremendous conflict with the athletic activities that are taking place in the same space, so there is a great need for the school to have this new state-of-the-art performing arts facility,” Wilk said. “This is going to house and be used by existing programs. There is no increase in programs or enrollment. There would not be any additional traffic or issues like that.”
Iona Prep is an all-boys Catholic school that has a lower school serving students from prekindergarten at age four up to the eighth grade and an upper school for grades nine through 12. In addition to including the arts in its curriculum, Iona Prep features the Prep Players and stage crew, which state, “Our goal is to entertain our audiences and to develop acting and technical skills in our actors and crew members.”
Iona Prep was established in 1916 and, as it marked its 100th anniversary, embarked on a capital campaign with a goal of raising $10 million to provide facility enhancements and instructional improvements in the arts and technology. Plans for brick-and-mortar enhancements included expansion of the Paul Verni Fine Arts Center to house additional instructional space and a theater.
At that time, Brother Thomas Leto, president of Iona Prep, reaffirmed the school”™s commitment to the arts and technology. A recent renovation of the school”™s Devlin Library & Center for Excellence included technology and design upgrades.
The Verni Center is named in honor of Paul Verni. He was in his senior year at Iona Prep when he was diagnosed with leukemia and died a year after graduation. Paul was the class valedictorian as well as an athlete and artist.
At the time the fundraising campaign was announced, Peter Gisolfi said, “Iona Prep has been ambitious about its plans and meticulous in their execution to ensure that students will have access to up-to-date buildings and technology, while enhancing the natural beauty of the campuses. With its new theater and additional instructional space, the expanded Verni Center will become the focal point for the arts.”
Wilk told the planning board, “We”™re trying to minimize the earth moving and regrading operations on the site and develop this project with minimal intervention. We”™re going to plant a significant amount of trees to enhance the aesthetics and natural environment.”
He explained that there would be new classrooms on both the first and second floors of the new performing arts center and the building”™s lobby would have large windows providing views of an athletic field and creating a new gathering space.
New pedestrian paths would be built that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. A new, gated entrance from Stratton Road will be created for use by emergency vehicles only. The plans also include new foliage to enhance screening for neighbors on both Stratton and Wilmot.
