Horizons School buys land for Southside expansion
Birmingham Business Journal - February 22, 2008
by Lauren B. Cooper
Local nonprofit The Horizons School Inc. purchased property in Southside for $1 million with plans to build an apartment complex that would double its capacity for students.
Horizons School plans to build a five or six story building, which could accommodate up to 33 two-bedroom apartments across from the school on Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard South.
Executive Director Jade K. Carter said once the new building is complete, students will be moved from the nonprofit's current housing at University Place in Five Points South and more students will be added.
The school teaches personal, social and independent skills to young adults ages 18 to 26 with disabilities, she said. The apartment complex will be used by students as an independent living facility.
As part of their programming, Horizons School partners with area companies to provide employment for many of the students.
Currently, 30 students attend Horizons School. Carter hopes the apartments and their close proximity to the school will allow it to serve up to 60 students.
While design of the building is being finalized, Carter said the project will cost at least $5 million.
Marc A. Eason, a principal at Birmingham's EGS Commercial Real Estate Inc., said the apartment project is significant for the school.
Eason is a board member of Horizons School and is spearheading the project. His son also is a graduate and currently works for Books-A-Million in Birmingham, where he recently received his pin for five years of service.
"He lives independently and has a job," Eason said. "These jobs are their lives and the idea of him being at home all day is not acceptable - to him or to me."
Since the land has been purchased, the school will likely launch a capital campaign to fund construction of the apartments, he said.
Carter said Horizons School will use best practices in making sure all of the internal space of the apartments are accessible and safe and allow students the learning space they need.
Horizons School has 15 full- and part-time employees and is a private school which relies on tuition, donations and grants.
Its current year budget is around $648,000, said Carter.
It is licensed by the state and is fully accredited by the National Commission for the Accreditation of Special Education Services.
The program started in 1991 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an initiative of then-President Scotty McCallum. It became a private nonprofit in 2000.
In 2005, it purchased a building on the corner of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard South and 15th Street, just blocks from Five Points South.
It demolished the existing building on the property and rebuilt the school in its place.
Read the full story on the Birmingham Business Journal website.
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