Groundbreaking Held on Overhauling Former Cardinal Stritch Campus » Urban Milwaukee

Aug Prep North campus. Rendering by Eppstein Uhen Architects.

Aug Prep North is underway.

St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, the high-performing choice school, held a groundbreaking Wednesday on its second campus at the site of the former Cardinal Stritch University.

The non-denominational Christian school, created by the Ramirez family, purchased the former college campus last year and is in the process of transforming it into a future home for more than 1,000 students in K4 kindergarten through 12th grade. The plan calls for a mix of demolition, reuse and new construction.

The $100 million project is expected to open in time for the 2026-27 school year with an initial student body of 300 students. Additional grades will be added each year.

The school completed an expansion last year on what is now known as its South Campus at S. 6th Street and W. Harrison Avenue in the city’s Lincoln Village. It added a $49 million elementary school to its existing building, which now serves only middle and high school students. The largest single-campus school in Wisconsin, the student body is currently at 2,200, up almost 400 from last year, and on pace to grow to 2,400.

The Ramirez family, led by businessman Gus Ramirez, hopes to raise $25 million for its new campus. As of Wednesday, it reported raising more than $12 million.

“Today is a significant milestone in our efforts to bring Aug Prep North from an idea to reality,” said Ramirez in a statement. “We envision Aug Prep North as a place where students from different backgrounds learn with and from one another in a top-rated school, creating an environment that currently is very difficult to find in Milwaukee’s education landscape. I have always believed strongly that education is the greatest equalizer in our society. When you have an education, you have a chance – and there are still far too many students in Milwaukee who do not have that chance. God is calling us to do more, and Aug Prep is how we continue to answer that call.”

The new campus is intended to have classrooms, STEM labs, music and fine arts spaces. A new fieldhouse is planned, as is a turf soccer field and outdoor track. Additional facilities for college and career readiness, and health care for families are also called for in the designs.

“We believe that every student in Milwaukee has limitless potential, and every student deserves the opportunity to reach that potential,” said Aug Prep CEO Abby Andrietsch. “Faith was the cornerstone of Aug Prep’s original South Campus in 2017 and remains the foundation for Aug Prep North. Here, we will educate the whole child, with a focus on excellence in academics, faith, family, athletics and the arts. Bringing students together from different backgrounds, our school will reflect the world we live in to prepare students for success. At a time when there is such a pressing need for high-quality schools in Milwaukee, we see the power of education in action every day at Aug Prep South and cannot wait to see similar stories play out at Aug Prep North.”

VJS Construction Services is serving as the general contractor on the project. Eppstein Uhen Architects, EUA, is serving as the project architect.

The school touts itself as the number one school in Wisconsin, in terms of performance, for schools that serve high school students and have a student population that is more than 75% economically disadvantaged.

The latest published Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report card, from the 2022-23 school year, gives Aug Prep a four-star “exceeds expectations” rating with an overall score of 82.8. At the time, its student body, 1,382 pupils, was 92.4% Hispanic. Aug Prep reported on Wednesday that its student body, now much larger, comes from 49 different ZIP codes.

The Ramirez family purchased the Cardinal Stritch campus for $24 million in 2023. Ramirez, chairman and former CEO of Husco International, said he had been looking for a way to expand to serve Milwaukee’s North Side, a predominantly Black area of the city. The new school will technically be in Fox Point, but will participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which provides full-tuition vouchers for students of qualifying families to attend participating schools.

Cardinal Stritch closed in May 2023 due to financial challenges caused by declining enrollment. Many considered its closure a canary in the coal mine for the looming struggles for Wisconsin’s private colleges.

Renderings

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