Brooks DeBartolo school finds future campus

BUYER: Brooks DeBartolo Charities Inc. (principals: Derrick Brooks, Lisa and Nicole DeBartolo, Martha Ford, Jorge Valiente and David Mallitz), Tampa

SELLER: Frank Fralick, Gerson Rodriguez and Jeffrey Daniels as trustees of the board of trustees of the University Church of God of Tampa

PROPERTY: 10948 N. Central Ave., Tampa

PRICE: $7.9 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Michael J. Palermo Esq., Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Brooks DeBartolo Charities Inc., the foundation responsible for Hillsborough County's first traditional charter school, purchased a 44,628-square-foot University Church of God building and surrounding property for $7.9 million.

The property included the main church building, a secondary building leased to the Community Charter School of Excellence and two wooden frame houses that will be demolished.

The foundation acquired the property to use the main church building as the future home of the Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School. The 300-student school plans to renovate the main building — which housed a school before it was used a church — and build an 18,000-square-foot addition. The school currently leases a small campus.

At completion, the Central Avenue building will feature 22 classrooms, a gym, technology lab, band room, fitness room, two science labs and a cafeteria with an overhang for outdoor eating.

“We are hoping to move over there this summer,” says Kristine Bennett, principal of the high school. “We liked that the buildings had previously been used as a school and that it had field space, a gym and room to grow. It's also off the main road, which should allow us to be a more secure campus. It also close to the current campus so we can still serve the same community of students.”

Eddie Mastalerz of St. Petersburg-based ARC3 Architecture is designing the project and DeBartolo Construction will be the general contractor.

The school hopes to grow its student enrollment in the fall to 350, Bennett says, and the new facility will have a capacity of 500 students.

Brooks DeBartolo Charities mortgaged the property to Wells Fargo Bank NA for $5.14 million.

In 2005, Pro Bowl NFL linebacker Derrick Brooks and prominent Tampa businessman Edward DeBartolo's family combined their charitable organizations, Derrick Brooks Charities Inc. and the DeBartolo Family Foundation, to create the Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School. The school opened in 2007.