MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami-Dade County Public Schools unveiled its new unique campus in the heart of Miami where teachers can live and work while their students are also learning.
The ribbon-cutting event was held on Monday for the new Southside Preparatory Academy on Southwest Third Avenue in Brickell.
“What was an empty lot not that long ago has now become a font of knowledge,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
District officials said it is a first-in-the-nation campus and hopes it can be a model for the rest of the country.
“This is unique because it’s the first of its kind,” said said MDCPS Chief Officer of Facilities Design and Construction Raul F. Perez.
The school will be serving middle school students in the neighborhood, which the district says is a huge need as other schools in this area have reached capacity.
The $39.2 million investment features a seven-story school building with state-of-the-art facilities, but the historic part of this project is the 10 affordable housing units for local educators located within the same building.
“Our starting teachers especially have a great opportunity to live where they work and play, also afterwards, it’s a unique model, innovative model that is starting to move forward throughout Miami-Dade, especially, the state, and other states as well,” said Perez.
Perez said the model will make it easier for educators in their day-to-day routine.
“Live, work play. What better place than to be in the area or in the same building where you work. You don’t have to drive,” said Perez.
The district says they have not yet figured out how those 10 units will be awarded once those educators who meet the requirements apply for them, but they do tell 7News that this is just the start.
Collaborators have also opened a new workforce housing building next door, bringing hundreds of additional affordable units to the neighborhood.
“It’s one cohesive campus, so the idea is you’re now mixing residential, affordability within close proximity to the Brickell station,” said Nathan Cogan, Director of Housing and Community Development in Miami-Dade County.
District officials say they hope to launch this model in other parts of the county in neighborhoods like Wynwood and South Miami.
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