Westminster Christian Academy

Makes Plans to Move & Expand

By Jim Day

After consulting with parents, donors, neighbors and city officials, Westminster Christian Academy (WCA) has submitted a site plan for a new 70-acre campus at Maryville Centre Drive and S. Outer Forty Drive to Town & Country for approval. The new campus is part of a $50 million capital campaign to support the school’s vision.

In October, Central Presbyterian Church approved the sale of its 30-acre Centreat property to Westminster. Southwest of Interstate 64/Highway 40, the property is adjacent to 40 acres the school purchased in 2003 from the Special School District.

“Westminster has been involved in a planning process for the future use of our facilities since purchasing the original property, and the additional land allowed us to broaden our vision,” said Jim Marsh, head of Westminster. “Over the past few months, we have met with the mayor, aldermen, city attorney, neighbors and neighborhood trustees to review preliminary drawings and gather feedback on our plans. The response has been very positive.”

Plans for the Town & Country campus include a main school building, a fine arts center with a 600-seat theater and 200-seat black box theater, two gyms and a media production center. The new school will accommodate 1,200 students and incorporate a ‘school within a school’ design with neighborhoods of 200 students. Athletic facilities will include an 80,000-square-foot athletic complex with an ice rink, an eight-lane swimming pool and a fitness center; a lighted football/soccer/track stadium; a performance soccer field; 10 tennis courts; and game and practice fields for softball, baseball, lacrosse and field hockey.

Architectural firm Zwick and Gandt developed the site plan, which has been presented in preliminary form to neighbors, parents and city officials in advance of the formal submission to Town & Country. “We have been working closely with our future neighbors to ensure that our plan and land use accomplish Westminster’s vision, while serving the surrounding community,” said Marsh. “We are very aware of how our footprint and building use affect our neighbors and have already made several adjustments to our original plans to address the concerns raised by nearby residents. We intend to maintain an open dialogue in order to continue being a good neighbor as we develop our new campus.”

Westminster is planning to move the entire school to Town & Country and is taking steps to sell its 30-acre campus at 10900 Ladue Road in Creve Coeur. Marsh said the earliest Westminster would break ground in Town & Country is 2009, with the campus completed in time for the 2010-2011 school year.

“A new campus is one part of our capital campaign, and we hope to have raised a significant portion of the gifts to manage the construction before breaking ground. Our intention is for the expansion to be funded by capital giving. WCA has always been a highly responsible steward of our donor’s gifts, so we do not plan to begin construction until we know we can fully realize the campaign goal,” explained Marsh.

Westminster has already reached its first milestone in the capital campaign and is on track to meet its goal for the new campus and other initiatives.

Westminster Christian Academy is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school serving grades 7–12. Westminster provides an academically diverse student body with knowledge in the traditional liberal arts and the skills and wisdom to apply that knowledge, encouraging students to embrace a Biblical World View and integrate it into every area of life. For more information, visit www.wcastl.org.