Owners & design
Model and terms
Prefer Model A or Model B? What must a shared-use or purchase term sheet include before we spend on survey and counsel?
Investor & campus pitch · confidential draft
West Park · Upper West Sidenyfreeschool.com/pitch
Acquire and convert West Park Presbyterian Church as the permanent home of a mastery-based NYC microschool — funded primarily by a $33M philanthropic campaign, operated on tuition + aid + annual giving, with facility debt only if it has a named repayment stack that is not “hope and tuition.”
Jump ahead
G index · 1–9 jump · → next · rail on the right
02 · Why this deal exists
West Park (Amsterdam & 86th) is on a demolition / redevelopment path. Once the fabric is gone, the preservation option is gone. Non-demolition capital has to clear redevelopment economics, not a bake sale.
NYC families already pay for mastery after 3 p.m. (tutors, Kumon, test prep). The public floor is 65. We sell the strong version as a full school day — and house it in a civic asset that would otherwise become tower site.
Investor thesis: gift capital buys the irreversible asset; school operations are a real P&L; debt only where cash flow is assigned.
03 · Value proposition
Families
Classes of 12. Live teachers. Mandatory Mental Arts every morning (how learning works). Whole books, not packets. The product competes with the shadow system of after-school mastery — at school, in public view.
City / donors
Landmark retained as daily civic life — secular school with written worship boundaries — not a mothballed shell or a condo podium.
Capital partners
Project ledger: site control + conversion (campaign / optional facility debt). Operating ledger: tuition, aid, annual giving, runway. We do not pretend ops tuition amortizes a $24M acquisition.
04 · Business model
05 · Operating economics
Planning figures from the board budget draft (FY June 30).
| FY27 online | FY28 hybrid | FY29 campus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Students | 48 | 60 | 72 |
| Gross tuition | $768k | $990k | $1.22M |
| Aid (30% gross) | ($230k) | ($297k) | ($367k) |
| Contributions (ops) | $400k | $475k | $550k |
| Total revenue | $938k | $1.17M | $1.41M |
| Total expenses | $905k | $1.16M | $1.48M |
| Surplus / (deficit) | +$33k | +$5k | ($75k)* |
*FY29 campus transition deficit is planned and funded from the facilities reserve built in FY27–28 — not from inventing debt service capacity. Occupancy in the draft is modeled at ~$240k lease/ops path; owned campus changes that line but does not magically create $1M+ of free cash for bond payments.
06 · Capital stack ($33M)
Uses (planning)
| Site acquisition / long-term control | $24.0M |
| Code / life-safety / Group E conversion | $4.5M |
| School fit-out FF&E | $0.75M |
| Ops runway & facilities reserve | $2.0M |
| Student aid capitalization | $1.0M |
| Campaign, legal, transaction, contingency | $0.75M |
| Total | $33.0M |
Sources (gift pyramid)
| Lead gift (1) | $6–8M |
| Major ($1–2.5M) | ~$8M |
| Leadership ($250k–999k) | ~$7M |
| Core ($50–249k) | ~$4M |
| Founding circle + board | ~$4M |
| Challenge / contingent | $2–4M |
| Total (at lead mid) | $33M |
If the deal is leasehold-only with lower upfront cash, reallocate acquisition dollars into permanent endowment for occupancy, aid, and fabric maintenance — same campaign total, different mix. Bond proceeds, if any, are additive or substitutive only after counsel; never double-counted as gifts.
07 · Bonds & repayment
Default path for sophisticated capital: minimize acquisition leverage. Use debt only for a slice that has assigned cash.
Preferred
$24M control paid with restricted gifts → no acquisition amortization. School ops never carry a tower-scale mortgage. This is the structure that matches microschool cash flow.
Optional
Example band: finance part of the ~$4.5M code/Group E work (or a defined hard-cost package) after 501(c)(3) and site control — taxable or tax-exempt only if bond counsel clears shared-use / private business use.
Tax-exempt bonds also require corporate existence, 501(c)(3), and a use agreement that survives private-business-use review if the congregation co-occupies. Until then: gifts, pledges, and diligence — not a bond roadshow.
08 · Asset & use
Model A · Sanctuary
Assembly, demos, PE in the great room. Needs assembly permits, Friday reset, contractual hours. Higher “wow,” more shared-use complexity (and bond PBU care).
Model B · No Sanctuary
School never schedules the nave. Cleanest secular/religious split — often the easier owner and financing story.
Floor plans + FF&E/fire posture packs exist. Term sheet and measured survey do not — that is tonight’s construction / owner workstream.
09 · Path
Now
Seat board, charter petition, lead gifts, owner term sheet.
Fall ’26
48 students, live classes — revenue and proof of demand.
2027
In-person days; site control and conversion design freeze.
By 2028
Group E path complete; classes only after approvals.
10 · Diligence status
11 · Tonight
Owners & design
Prefer Model A or Model B? What must a shared-use or purchase term sheet include before we spend on survey and counsel?
Construction
Survey, code walk (Group E / assembly), rough order of magnitude on conversion — so capital and debt sizing stop being narrative.
Capital
Soft interest in a restricted lead ($6–8M), a gift-pyramid tier, introductions, or — only with counsel — a facility-debt slice with a named repayment stack. Not a tuition-only bond.
12 · Next step
Campaign pack, full ops budget, tax-exempt readiness, and space plans. Same figures in every room — or we fix them before anyone underwrites.
Draft · July 2026 · invited partners only. Not an offer of securities or municipal bonds. Not a determination of tax-exempt status. Planning figures only; replace with deal-specific underwriting before commitment.