Windward School Puts Former White Plains Campus on Market for Sale

WHITE PLAINS—The Windward School, which recently relocated to a larger campus on Mamaroneck Avenue, announced plans to sell its former campus. The property is being marketed without an asking price.

The 5.35-acre development site is located at 5 and13 Windward Ave.—a residential dead-end street that backs up to Saxon Woods Park. The campus is currently vacant with 38,000 square feet of space in four buildings of varying construction and size. The property is zoned R1-12.5 residential for single-family homes.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm RM Friedland has been retained as advisor and exclusive broker for the sale.

The campus is located in the Rosedale neighborhood of White Plains located in the southeast part of the city, just off the Hutchison River Parkway.

“This is a unique opportunity to acquire a property that is zoned residential for single-family home development in a highly desirable and centrally located neighborhood in White Plains,” said John Barrett, managing director- investment sales division of RM Friedland, who, along with Alison Luisi, is the broker for the property.

The Windward School is a coeducational, independent day school dedicated to providing a proven instructional program for children with language-based learning disabilities. The multisensory curriculum is designed for students of average to superior intelligence who can benefit from the unique educational experience provided.

Windward currently has two campuses in Westchester County: Lower School (grades 1-5) located at 1275 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains (the new location) and Middle School (grades 6-9) located at 40 West Red Oak Lane, White Plains. There is also a Manhattan campus at 212 East 93rd St.

“A migration out of New York City has created explosive demand for residential development sites. We believe there will great interest in the former Windward campus.” said Luisi, vice president, investment sales at RM Friedland.

The former campus has a rich history. Led by educator Isabel Greenbaum Stone, the original Windward School opened in 1930 in an English Manor-style school house at 13 Windward Ave. In the span of 91 years, the historic property operated as a school for several thousand students of all ages from nursery school through high school. Starting in 1988, the school began transforming the lives of children who many schools had given up on due to their learning disabilities. Beginning with 129 students in 1988, the school has grown dramatically, attracting students from across the tri-state area and even throughout the world. The school plans to enroll nearly 1,000 students for 2021-2022 across its campuses in Westchester and New York City.

Shifting an entire lower school community to a new campus was not originally in the plans for the 2020-2021 school year. “When it was evident that our 13 & 15 Windward Avenue campus was not sufficient to provide in-person instruction for all our Westchester Lower School students due to health and safety guidelines caused by the pandemic, we had to make some fast decisions,” said Jamie Williamson, headmaster of the school.

The Winward School eventually decided to take a former office building at 1275 Mamaroneck Ave. down to its studs and turn it into a facility for all Westchester Lower School students, faculty, and staff members a year ahead of schedule.