Recently completed turnkey location will allow the award-winning charter school to double its enrollment following its relocation in 2024
OPEN Impact Real Estate (OPEN), a woman-owned commercial real estate services company specializing in nonprofit and corporate impact organizations, is pleased to announce that Imagine Me Leadership Charter School (IMLCS), a high-performing, award-winning charter school offering an intensive academic program to pre-K through eighth grade, has signed a 30-plus-year lease for 63,000-square-foot stand-alone building at 39 Truxton St. in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
“Securing a new, high-quality facility for our students has been a dream of ours for many years,” said LaShawn Robinson, chief executive officer of IMLCS. “The central presence and flexibility of this building will strengthen our students’ sense of community and allow us to double our enrollment in the coming years, supporting our transition to a co-ed model that aligns our mission and outstanding track record with our physical space.”
IMLCS, which first opened for instruction in 2011 and has been recognized as a New York State Rewards School four years in a row, will relocate from its current location at 818 Schenck Ave. in East New York, Brooklyn in the 2024/2025 school year. The school’s newly built four-story turnkey facility boasts a double-height gymnasium, multiple outdoor play spaces and a cafeteria and auditorium, offering a significantly elevated and dignified experience for the school’s young learners.
Stephen Powers, Lindsay Ornstein, and Jake Cinti of OPEN represented the tenant, IMLCS, in the transaction; Steve Nadel and Nechama Lebrow of Pinnacle Realty of New York represented the landlord, Fulton Gate Realty LLC.
“As IMLCS looks towards the future, it needed a larger space that could accommodate the school’s strong demand as it begins to transition to a co-ed model,” said Cinti. “Because the transaction was structured as a long-term leasehold condominium, IMLCS will also realize significant cost savings that will allow the school to further its mission serving the community for many years to come.”
The new location, designed by IMC Architecture, can accommodate up to 650 students, and is being completed amid the City’s ambitious Brownsville Plan, which will result in the creation of over 2,500 new affordable homes, a new cultural center, a new center for innovation and entrepreneurship and new neighborhood retail and space for community organizations.
OPEN Impact Real Estate (OPEN) is a certified woman-owned business that delivers a comprehensive range of commercial real estate brokerage and advisory services in partnership with their national affiliate JLL. As a woman-owned enterprise, OPEN is committed to delivering a comprehensive suite of services tailored to empower socially conscious, mission-driven organizations. Renowned as the foremost expert in leveraging physical spaces as a catalyst for change and advancement, OPEN services a host of corporate clients and boasts the largest nonprofit practice in New York City, extending its impact across the United States.
In 2024, OPEN formed a strategic alliance with leading commercial real estate and investment management company JLL. OPEN Impact serves as JLL’s exclusive WBE partner in the Tri-State region and is a national affiliate of the global real estate firm. For more information, please visit www.openregroup.com.
