The Sultana Education Foundation has completed the purchase of a property in Chestertown as the site for a new 9,000 square-foot Education Center. The establishment of Sultana’s Education Center is part of a five-year initiative by the Foundation to double the number of K-12 students it serves and expand its programs for the public.
Located at the corner of Cannon and Cross streets, formerly the site of Kent Printing, Inc., the property features an existing 1859 building and an adjoining open lot. The Foundation is working with the architectural firm of Castro Arts to finalize designs for a new building to be built on the open lot and joined with the existing 19th century structure. The completed complex will include a lecture hall, wet-lab, multi-purpose classrooms, and a dedicated project shop for hands-on instruction and activities.
Sultana’s Education center is being designed as a LEED Platinum facility, the highest certification for environmental sustainability awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. When complete, the Center will be one of only a handful LEED Platinum buildings in the United States located in a National Landmark Historic District.
Sultana plans to complete the design for its Education Center this spring, place the project out to bid over the summer, and begin construction as early as the fourth quarter of 2014. Construction will be contingent upon the Foundation securing an additional $1 million in funding. To date the Foundation has raised $1.5 million to support the purchase of the property and to fund an operational endowment for the completed Education Center. Sultana intends to have the Center complete and operating in the first half of 2016.
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