Ryan Starts Construction On 56,000-Square-Foot Charter School Near Nashville

We’re excited to announce the groundbreaking of the 56,000-square-foot Rutherford Collegiate Prep (RCP) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The school is the latest charter school offering in the region from Noble Education Initiative (NEI), a local non-profit organization that manages four other public charter schools in the region, as the organization looks to expand educational options in the fast-growing community. Construction is set to be complete by July 2024. The charter school will initially serve 470 students in grades K-5.

RCP marks our third K-12 project in collaboration with NEI in the Nashville region, where we will serve as the general contractor. The second project, a 93,400-square-foot expansion of Nashville Collegiate Prep's middle school building, began construction earlier this year and is on track to be completed in time for the 2024 school year. We completed work on Nashville Collegiate Prep's K-5 building in the summer of 2021.

With RCP, NEI aims to expand education choices for families and support Rutherford County's rapidly growing public school system. The charter school will incorporate a collaborative teaching approach in which different academic levels will receive their education in large conjoint classrooms with flexible areas for group learning.

"We are proud to embark on our third charter school project in the Nashville community in partnership with NEI," said Max Bosso, our vice president of real estate development. "As one of the top builders of charter schools in the Southeast, Ryan looks forward to applying our expertise to deliver a next-generation educational environment that enables teachers to instruct effectively and students to learn without constraints."

Rutherford Collegiate Prep is the latest charter school project we have overseen this year. We’ve also completed 203,000 square feet of charter school space in 2023 and have started early construction stages on approximately 362,000 square feet of additional educational projects. Our commitment to delivering charter schools in 10 months, compared with the average school delivery of 12 months or more, has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest while ensuring an uninterrupted flow of quality public education services for the communities they serve. The new facilities incorporate key design features and amenities to optimize the student learning experience, including collaborative workspaces, community classrooms, specialty break-out rooms, gymnasiums, science labs, art rooms, athletic fields, music and theater spaces, and multi-use rooms for cafeterias and after-school programs.

By the end of 2023, we will have constructed a total of 81 charter school projects, bringing its portfolio of completed charter school projects in the Southeast to more than 2.8 million square feet.