Cristo Rey Jesuit High School to relocate by Fall 2019

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee announced the purchase of a property located at 1818 W. National Avenue, which will become the new location for the school currently projected for fall of 2019.

This new location is a part of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee’s long-term strategic plan. The School is in its third year with an enrollment of 324 students and is currently located at 1215 S. 45th Street, West Milwaukee, WI 53214, which is approximately 45,000 square feet. The school will welcome its fourth class of students in the fall of 2018 and will graduate its first class of seniors in the spring of 2019.

Based on current enrollment and admissions activity, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School projects a total ongoing enrollment of 500 students. The new location is more than double the size of the school’s current facility and can accommodate all of the programming required for Cristo Rey’s college preparatory and work-study programming.

“Back in April of 2014, when we completed our feasibility study as part of the planning process to open Cristo Rey Jesuit in Milwaukee, we anticipated and modeled enrollment growth as we added a new class of students each year,” said Andy Stith, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee president. “We have exceeded those enrollment projections thanks to tremendous community support for our urban work-study model. This new building will provide the space and amenities needed to continue providing our students with a high-quality education and we’re excited about the next chapter of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee.”

A special Long Range Planning Committee and several school leaders thoroughly evaluated multiple sites and expansion options over the course of the last three years before deciding to purchase the location on National Avenue.

The property meets all of Cristo Rey’s criteria. For example, the location was chosen based on its accessibility to major roads and highways to provide easy access for Cristo Rey Jesuit High School families as well as to transport the students to their corporate work-study program locations. It was also chosen based on other factors such as safety and security features as well as provides enough space to optimize programming well into the future and has plenty of parking space.

“The location on National Avenue is the right choice for our parents and students because we are a destination high school,” Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Governance Board Chair Paul Eberle. “It is accessible to the families we serve and we can easily get to any local partner business in the metro Milwaukee area for our work study program. In addition, this location on National Avenue allows us to optimize our educational model by expanding our academic, athletic and artistic offerings. This investment both allows us to help students develop to their full potential as well as favorably impact the Milwaukee community.”

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee, following the highly successful Cristo Rey Network model, is carefully planning to accommodate a high-performing high school at the new site. The new location is a former retail property. While the goal is to move quickly, significant renovation to the new location is needed. Multiple timelines are being coordinated including fundraising, construction, and academic calendar activities.