Mission Bay School Receives $2 Million Gift from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

San Francisco (February 15, 2021) - The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has received a commitment for a $2 million community benefit gift from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. to support the development of a long-planned new school in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. In addition, Alexandria will also provide its laboratory design, construction and development expertise to the project, participate in shaping the academic program and facilitate connections with the local life science community to enhance the school’s STEM education opportunities.

The Mission Bay school site was designated in the 1998 Mission Bay South Design for Development plan. In 2017, the SF Board of Education passed a resolution calling for the District to begin development of the school site.

SFUSD has engaged in a collaborative process with academic leaders, parents, students, neighbors, community members and the architecture firm Gould Evans to develop a program for the future school site. The Mission Bay school will be a multi-use campus with a PreK-5 elementary school for 500 students, a Linked Learning Hub in which high school students coming from other SFUSD schools participate in job training, internships and business partnerships, and a professional learning facility.

“We know that schools are at the heart of a neighborhood, and we are extremely grateful to Alexandria for helping us bring to fruition a new school in Mission Bay,” said Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews. 

“We are incredibly proud of our position at the vanguard of the essential life science industry and for the opportunity to support SFUSD’s important effort to deliver on its promise of a new science-focused school in Mission Bay,” said Terezia Nemeth, executive vice president and San Francisco regional market director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. and a member of the Mission Bay School Stewardship Council. “Through our development of the Alexandria Center® for Science and Technology – Mission Bay, we have been a key collaborator with the City of San Francisco and a driving force in the transformation of Mission Bay into the leading life science hub it is today. Alexandria’s contribution and partnership with SFUSD is a continued demonstration of our deep commitment to further enhance the thriving Mission Bay innovation cluster, as well as to foster educational opportunities in STEM; prepare students for success in the 21st century; and cultivate the next generation of life-changing innovators.”

"This gift from Alexandria is a huge step towards realizing the vision of a Mission Bay School. It's an example of community benefits done right, and is going to support hundreds of students, teachers, families, and the entire Mission Bay neighborhood in the years to come," said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents Mission Bay on the SF Board of Supervisors. 

In 2019, the company launched Alexandria Scholars, a scholarship program that grants students in select locations, including San Francisco, $5,000 annually to attend a two- or four-year program at a college/university of their choice to study one of the STEM fields. Since then, Alexandria has granted scholarships to six high-achieving students graduating from San Francisco public high schools.

The company’s gift, which extends the collaboration between SFUSD and Alexandria to empower students, allows the District to establish an endowment for the campus for the purposes of managing the facility, specifically to support annual buildings and grounds, custodial, and deferred maintenance costs. The endowment will also support necessary activities, programs, and capital projects for the campus.

Learn more about plans for the new school in Mission Bay here.

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