Brooklyn Charter Network to Open 150K-SF Downtown Brooklyn High School

Brooklyn Prospect Charter School will open a new high school in Downtown Brooklyn in the fall of 2026.

The charter school network, which offers a tuition-free college preparatory program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, has signed a 35-year lease for more than 150,000 square feet across the entire ninth through 11th floors of the Wheeler, Tishman Speyer’s office building at 422 Fulton Street, according to the landlord.

“We are pleased to welcome Brooklyn Prospect to the Wheeler,” Chris Shehadeh, senior managing director at Tishman Speyer, said in a statement. “With its prime location, high ceilings and large flexible floor plates, the Wheeler has proven to be a great fit for some of Brooklyn’s leading educational institutions.”

The asking rent was not provided, but a report from CBRE (CBRE) found office rents in Brooklyn averaged $54.74 per square foot during the fourth quarter of 2024.

Newmark (NMRK)’s Ross Kaplan and Justin DiMare brokered the deal for the tenant, while Tishman Speyer was represented in-house by Megan Sheehan and by CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe, Gerry Miovski, Joseph Cirone, Zachary Price and Masha Dudelzak.

Spokespeople for Brooklyn Prospect, Newmark and CBRE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brooklyn Prospect operates several other charter schools in Brooklyn, including in Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill. The charter school operates an elementary and a middle school downtown at 80 Willoughby Street, one block north of the new Fulton Street high school site.

Its new campus at the Wheeler, which was built atop the landmarked Macy’s department store near the corner of Fulton and Hoyt streets, will feature more than 25,000 square feet of outdoor space across all three floors and a dedicated lobby entrance, according to the landlord.

The school will also create a “double-height gymnasium” with a full-size basketball court on the 10th floor, Tishman Speyer said.

Brooklyn Prospect won’t be the only school in the building, as it will join St. Francis College, which moved its entire campus to 422 Fulton Street in 2022 and occupies 255,000 square feet of space across the entire fifth through seventh floors, according to the landlord.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.