Looking for properties to start a new school in the Caguas area

We are starting a search for properties in the Caguas/Cidra/Cayey area to start a small Montessori school.

The ideal property would be a closed school that either could be rented or lent to us to start out. We are hoping to open in August.

For example, there is a large school that has been abandoned in the the hills of Humacao and it was recently "taken" by the community. I'm not sure about the legality of this but they let us explore the property and make a proposal as to why our proposed school would be a good for the community. No rent would be involved. We would have to rehab the place though.

The problem is our house is on the Caguas/Cayey line and to travel that distance every day would just be too much. We are currently living in Humacao as we rebuild our home which was destroyed by Maria.

The school would initially be a "nido" with children aging from 0-3. There are many other services we would want to offer such as activities for adolescents and programs for pregnant teens. And agriculture would be a big part of our programs, so a space that could also accommodate a garden and maybe even chickens would be ideal.

So like I said, we are just starting our search so if anyone knows of any such properties, has any leads or can guide us as to whom we may be able to talk to about something like this, that info would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to post this on the Facebook page as well as we really need help with this and the more people I contact the better. Searching online hasn't helped. We are planning on traveling to Caguas today to try and get some leads.

Thanks for reading!
Rich

I know the government approved a plan to rent and or sell closed schools, however I have no info on that. I would suggest checking with the Small Business Association in PR, they may have info or guide you.

That's a good idea regarding this SBA.

I know the government has rented out unused schools to various organizations for a dollar a year. I have found the department of education's website regarding this along with a list of available properties. It's a start. My boriquen girlfriend is hesitant to get involved with anything that involves the government.

Kudos for doing this!  It sounds like something PR really needs!

Wow....this is a swell idea!

There's a couple of properties that I can visualize for your school that have the location, size and features that you're looking for.

They all have the acreage to create a very diverse curriculum with enough green for agro-centered projects. One of them is in Bairoa, a recently abandoned elementary school. The other one is in Caguas Norte, on the right of a formerly abandoned High School that became a Community College (it used to be an elementary school) and the third one used to be an outdoors/water park on the side of a mountain that overlooks the Valley, but about 5 minutes from downtown Caguas...which is controlled/owned of the local Municipal Administration. If you need help locally I can get you a meeting with the mayor or the vice- mayor. There's a bunch of help and grants that you can apply as well, although it requires a little digging and processes.  I'm a proud Cagueño, from Rio Cañas where there's a Montesory School already (lived in Louisiana for a while), local architect/builder/sculptor...my email is **** if you think I can be of help/assistance!

Moderated by Bhavna 6 years ago
Reason : Please do not post your contact details on the forum. You should exchange them through the private messaging system.Thank you
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct