Epic Academy Eyes Expansion

A rendering of the new Epic Academy College Prep campus, which is slated for completion in 2025. IMAGE COURTESY OF EPIC ACADEMY COLLEGE PREP.
A rendering of the new Epic Academy College Prep campus, which is slated for completion in 2025. IMAGE COURTESY OF EPIC ACADEMY COLLEGE PREP.

Epic Academy Eyes Expansion

By Tia Carol Jones

Epic Academy College Prep has received approval for its plan to build a $22 million state-of-the-art school. The approval from the Chicago City Council, Committee on Zoning and Chicago Plan Commission would enable Epic to purchase St. Michael’s school, which is located at 8231 S. South Shore Drive, and some adjacent properties.

Epic Academy College Prep moved into the former site of Sullivan Elementary School in 2009. The plan includes renovating the existing building, constructing a four-story addition and replacing two residential properties.

LeeAndra Khan, Executive Director of Epic Academy College Prep, said the approval process was lengthy and included getting approval to change the school’s address, prove they engaged stakeholders and they had community support. Epic also had to make a case with the Chicago Public Schools, which authorizes the school’s charter, as to why it needed a new facility. From there, it went before the Board of Education who voted to approve the relocation of the school.

With the approval from the Board of Education, Epic was able to move forward on the schematic design of the new campus. EPIC hired JGMA as their architect and the design went through some iterations. The plan received full City Council approval on June 21st. The plan is to purchase everything except St. Michael’s Church.

“We wanted to make sure we continued to serve the population we serve and moving the school too far away from where we currently are, it wouldn’t honor the original purpose of putting a school in South Chicago to begin with,” Khan said.

Khan said as Epic added more classes and increased its population, the space became inadequate. The current location of Epic doesn’t have a gymnasium, library, a full-service cooking kitchen, and the cafeteria is in the basement, adjacent to the boiler room.

“It’s a beautiful building and it was well-maintained, but it was built in 1902 and it doesn’t have any of the amenities that any of the high schools have. While we’ve been doing really well by our students with programming, there are some essential pieces of the school experience that we aren’t able to provide in the current building,” Khan said.

During the engagement process, Epic talked to students, parents and community members, as well as teachers and staff members about what they wanted at the schools. The goal is to make Epic a community impact institution.

The frame of St. Michael’s school will remain and be used for core learning spaces. The other spaces, the rectory and the other buildings will be demolished and a gymnasium, career center, media center, art studio, music room, physical education rooms, science labs and offices will be added.

The hope is with the new campus the students will be able to experience something beautiful. The gym will be on the top floor to give the students 360-degree views of the city. The roof will be green and there will be a community garden. Khan said the goal is to give the students at Epic everything students at schools in other parts of the city have.

The community will have access to the facility to have events. Epic is working with the community to create programs they can access. The hope is to move the students into the new school 2025-2026. Khan believes if everything goes well, it will take two years.

Khan has made a commitment that as many entities as possible that work on the project are Black, women and/or Latino-owned firms. The architect is Latino-owned, the project manager is a woman-owned firm, the real estate attorney is a Black woman-owned firm, the zoning attorney is a Black-owned firm and the general contractor will be a Black-owned firm.

“If we’re going to build a school in South Chicago, where the population is Black and Latino, the people who are building the school should represent the community,” Khan said.

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