AVALON PARK, Fla. – Beat Kahli, the energetic eccentric Swiss developer who created East Orange County's Avalon Park, and most recently earlier this month announced he's willing to build five new schools in Avalon Park and sell them to the school district to relieve overcrowding, said he is now going ahead with one school.
Wednesday afternoon, Kahli revealed to Local 6 exclusively his plans to build a K-8 charter school across from Avalon Park Middle School on 8 acres of land he controls.
Kahli said the STEM & arts school would handle up to 1,150 students and relieve over-crowding at Avalon Middle.
Kahli explained good schools are good for business but also good for the community.
"If the schools are great, then my apartments are full," said Kahli. "If those schools are overcrowded, you know what happens, they take down the school, they take down the ratings."
Kahli said after a contentious meeting with the Orange County School Board on Monday, he decided to build the school without involving the school district.
"He [School Board Chair Bill Sublette] made it quite clear he doesn't want me in this situation, so I took things into my own hands and signed an agreement yesterday with a contractor," said Kahli.
Kahli also said he has partnered with Charter Schools Development Corporation to build the school.
Charter Schools Development Corporation, according to its website, has built around 100 school across the country including six in Florida, among them Sunshine High School of Greater Orlando.
Kahli hasn't said which charter company will operate the school, only that it has already secured a charter from the Orange County School District.
Kahli said all families in Avalon Park will have access to the charter school, but Sublette pointed out all families in Orange County will have access and can apply as charter schools are not limited by school zones.
Kahli insisted his site was perfect for a K-8 school. He said Avalon Park Boulevard is used to the traffic, specifically school buses, and his school can partner with Avalon Middle and utilize its resources.
School Board Chair Bill Sublette said he thinks the idea is "terrific" and said the more schools in Avalon Park, the better.
Sublette also said the board will still push ahead with trying to win approval for its relief middle school.
Orange County Commissioners are set to vote on May 19 on whether to grant a waiver for OCPS that will allow construction of the relief middle school on a site on Timber Springs Boulevard originally zoned for an elementary school.
Sublette had expressed frustration that Kahli's proposals were slowing down the process of building the relief middle school, but Kahli said he told the school board it should continue with its efforts and not wait for Kahli's proposals. Kahli also said the school district needed to secure permits from the Army Corps of Engineers before it could proceed with the relief middle school, which could take at least a month.
Kahli is expected to obtain permitting for his charter school and open the school by fall 2016.
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