A Forever Home for MIA

Marco Island Academy is on the cusp of realizing a long-held dream – construction of permanent buildings and a soccer field on its San Marco Road campus. Ground is expected to be broken in June for the first segment of the three-part project.

Phase One will include a two-story building including a multi-use gym with a stage and a school lobby at a cost of $4.5 million. Phase Two will consist of a three-story addition to the building including 16 state-of-the-art classrooms in the academic center, while Phase Three will include the soccer field, removal of the existing portable classroom buildings located at the school and more. Total project costs are $12.5 million.

This giant step forward for the school, which first opened in 2011, was announced at a recent gathering at the Marco Island home of staunch MIA supporters, Bill and Karen Young. Entitled “Revving Up for the Rays,” the cocktail party kicked-off the capital campaign to finance the work. It also included the major revelation that the Youngs have forgiven their $2 million loan to MIA.

“It opens our property to allow us to begin construction soon,” Jane Watt, MIA’s founder and chairman of the board of directors, said after the event, where she joyfully displayed the letter of mortgage satisfaction. “We’re going to work very hard to raise the necessary funds for the project. The total project (cost) is $12.5 million and right now, we’ve raised, in cash and pledges, about $2.6 million toward Phase One. We need $4.5 million by June, so we’re still trying to secure donations. This is the very beginning of the public phase, so we’re sharing the vision now.”

She was one of several speakers during the party, which included hors d’oeuvres and live jazz.

Watt noted that the Young’s loan came at a time when the school was leasing the property, with an option to purchase. The owner eventually notified MIA if the option was not exercised, the land would be sold to a buyer who planned to build an assisted living facility.

“We were really in a bind, she said. “We went to the district and tried to get help and didn’t get any. That was the moment Bill and Karen stepped forward and said they would loan the school $2 million to buy the land and have a home that was permanent for our school.”

She was followed by Bill Young, who said Watt’s passion for the school and its students and staff made it easy to support to the effort to build permanent and comprehensive facilities.

“As I look at things today, I think, ‘This is Marco Island, this is a very well-to-do community,’” he said, “$50-plus million goes to the county for education and yet we don’t have a permanent building for the (high) school. It’s an embarrassment to Marco Island not have a permanent facility for the high school. Tonight, I believe that by helping this way and getting this part of it out of the ground, we can then wake up the district and maybe get some other support that we need.”

Watt also announced that the first major naming rights had been secured, with “Bill and Karen Young Manta Ray Hall,” to grace the building that comprises Phase One.

MIA’s home base is a series of portable structures that are showing serious wear-and-tear and that in Florida, even though tuition-free charter schools, are tuition-free, public schools, they don’t receive public funding for buildings or land.

“The bottom line is our existing facilities are really not adequate,” said Watt. “Because of that, we, as a board, decided that we needed to move forward and take action. One of the ways we decided to do that was by starting a capital campaign for the school to build a permanent building for the students.”

She lauded the efforts of MIA board member Marianne Iordanou who, along with her husband Dinos, co-chair the capital campaign. The couple has committed $500,000 for naming rights to the athletic facility interior.

“A big dream for me was getting these kids a safe and secure campus,” Marianne Iordanou told the gathering. “They have no gym, no fields, no lunch room, no stage and most of all, no permanent building. Tonight is where that lack of permanence comes to an end. Tonight we kick-off our dream for permanency, a campus that will bring pride and joy to our kids, administration, faculty, staff, and also the entire community of Marco Island. This has been my dream and I will work hard to make sure this becomes a reality.”

Opportunities to purchase naming rights still exist and all gifts of $25,000 will be recognized on a donor wall in the main lobby. To learn more or to donate, contact Jane Watt at JWatt@marcoislandacademy.org or 239-249-0004, or call Marco Island Academy at 239-393-5133 and use her name as the contact.