By Meghan Hall
A private school in Bellevue has sold. In a deal that was finalized just before the end of last year, ther Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle sold its campus for $18.5 million, according to public records that just recently recorded. The buyer of the property was an entity affiliated with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based STORE Capital and Basis Independent Schools.
The campus is located at 15749 NE 4th Street and JDS originally acquired by the school in 1986 from Bellevue School District No. 405. According to JDS’s website, the campus totals seven acres and serves approximately 100 children from kindergarten through 8th grade. The campus features an innovation lab, a design lab–also known as a maker space–state of the art athletic center and exploratory areas.
“Our gorgeous seven acre campus is located east of downtown Seattle, in the Crossroads area of Bellevue – just two miles south of Microsoft’s main campus,” JDS states on its website about the campus. “Our inquiry-based learning program fosters critical thinking, problem solving, confidence, collaboration, leadership, innovation and more – all in a global learning environment.”
Originally, plans filed with the City of Bellevue indicated that the school was originally going to undergo a three-phase renovation from 2020 to 2024. Basis’ website, however, indicates renovations will actually begin this summer.
JDS was originally founded in 1980 with the goal of providing values-based “whole child” education to students, regardless of their Jewish lineage. The organization’s first school was located in Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue and started with 32 students. Today, its student population features children from 22 zip codes and 8 countries; 72 percent of its student body is unaffiliated with a synagogue or temple.
