Victory Christian Academy, a K-12 school located at 2840 S. 10th St. on the south side of Milwaukee, this week announced plans to build a new 30,000-square-foot gymnasium and make other improvements, including new classroom space.
In addition to the new gym, the $7.5 million project will include expanded technology centers, new cafeteria facilities and the re-design of a parking lot.
Construction could start as early as September, and be complete in time for the start of the 2023-24 school year. VCA is working with Milwaukee-based Abacus Architects on the project. T&R Developments is the project developer.
VCA has secured an initial loan for $6 million for the project but, because of supply chain issues, the school was recently informed that the total estimated costs for the project will be an additional $1.5 million. VCA is in the process of securing the additional funds.
VCA was founded in 1999 by Vyon Rogers to provide high-quality education to low-income families in the greater Milwaukee area emphasizing academic excellence, multiculturalism, character development and continuous learning. VCA will add the 12th grade and will provide K-12 education for the first time in August 2023.
Currently, VCA provides classes and activities for its students out of two separate buildings at 6021 W. Lincoln Ave., West Allis, and 2840 S. 10th St., Milwaukee.
VCA says it continues to grow and the expansion project at the South 10th Street location will provide the additional capacity the school needs, allow it to combine both of its campuses, and provide quality athletic facilities for its students and for the community. It will allow VCA to gather all of its approximately 250 students on one campus when needed.
The new gymnasium will provide a facility of that type to VCA students for he first time in the school’s history. VCA plans to use the new building to provide athletics, physical education classes, afterschool activities, and as an auditorium for large school events.
In addition, the new gymnasium will be qualified to host AAU basketball tournaments.
VCA will also establish a hydroponics center in the new building, which will provide training and new jobs for students, as well as allow the school to provide a farmers market to the community.
VCA also has plans to remodel its existing building space on 10th Street. Those plans involve improving the learning environment by removing the walls of two kindergarten rooms on the first floor to increase the square footage for teaching, including bathrooms in each of these rooms and on the second floor, removing coatrooms to increase the space for classrooms and build cabinets for the classrooms. There are also plans to resurface the parking lot.
“At Victory Christian Academy, we endeavor to develop leaders and entrepreneurs in Milwaukee and its neighboring communities,” said D.L. Rogers, Victory Christian Academy board president. “We are expanding our collaborative partnerships with neighborhood organizations and local businesses to help shape our students as pacesetters for impacting their communities. We believe this should intrinsically happen on an organic, grassroots level where our students model family values through academic excellence.”
