Hot Property: New Millenium Academy plans new building in Brooklyn Center

Type: Education

Size: 81,903 square feet

Lot size: 4.77 acres

Developer: CS Property NMA

Architect: DSGW Architects

Details: The New Millennium Academy charter school, located since its 2005 founding on Minneapolis' North Side, is seeking city permissions to build a larger facility in Brooklyn Center.

The school, which serves Hmong students, submitted plans to construct an 82,000-square-foot, K-8 facility on the longtime site of Malmborg's Nursery near the interchange of Hwy. 100 (Lilac Drive) and Brooklyn Boulevard. Malmborg's owner Troy Lucht announced he will close it this summer after more than 100 years of greenhouse uses at the spot.

School officials say the proposed three-story building is designed to accommodate New Millennium's current enrollment of 550, with capacity to handle a projected student population of 700 to 750 within a few years. The blueprints include classrooms on all three floors, a music hall, cafeteria/kitchen, gymnasium and administration offices.

The site plan has been devised to mesh with extensive road realignment work scheduled for the interchange beginning in 2017, part of the Brooklyn Boulevard corridor improvement project. Under those plans, the school will grant the city and Hennepin County a future right of way across part of the property to extend Lilac Drive, making access to the site from the north safer and easier.

Should the rezoning and site plan be approved, construction is set to begin this fall followed by a July 2016 opening.

Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.