Like a student cramming for an exam, Phelps Construction Group faced a tight deadline. The Denville, New Jersey-based company was hired to renovate a space for Kindle Education, a tuition-free public charter school with about 460 students grades 6-12. The new location, for students in 6th and 7th grade, was unique: The school would occupy two floors and 17,000+ square feet at 35 Journal Square, a 12-story, nearly 100-year-old office building owned by Capital One in Jersey City.
The timeframe was ambitious, to say the least.
“They approached us about six months before their moving date to design it and get it approved by the city,” says Jeff Rainforth, president of Phelps, which also works in New York and eastern Pennsylvania. “It was pretty crazy. But we have good relationships in Jersey City and they were super cooperative. We have a relationship with the owner’s rep. We have a relationship with the architect (KSS Architects LLP) that we brought on board and that we’ve worked with for many years.”
That relationship with KSS was essential for moving fast. As architects designed the project in March 2024, Phelps ordered materials and mechanical equipment. “The school took a lot of risks and committed to buy things before the city even approved their project,” Rainforth says. “But that was really the only way to pull it off.”
Phelps was well-equipped to handle the challenges of an older building. The company does frequent historic restoration work, including renovating the Ellis Island Immigration Museum as well as a building from 1876 for KIPP Public Charter, which uses the space for an elementary school and a middle school. Phelps is currently restoring the nearly 100-year-old Loew’s Jersey Theater in Journal Square, about two blocks from the Kindle school. “It’s kind of our expertise,” says Rainforth. But even he had some reservations about the site.
“I walked with the real-estate guy probably in February and we looked at four or five different properties around Jersey City. And we walked in this one and I was like, ‘Mike, you’re gonna go into an office building? How do they do gym? How does that work?’” Rainforth recalls. “He said, ‘We do it in New York City all the time. There are things that you can do in a small space.’”
The school’s floorplan has rooms for various academic activities—math, science, art—but also breakout spaces where teachers and students meet outside of the classrooms, sit at a table and engage in collaborative learning sessions. As for gym classes, those occur in the cafeteria, which is a multi-purpose space.
“They call them ‘cafetoriums’: It’s one big room where they have gym, lunch, breakfast and gatherings,” Rainforth says.
One of the school’s most interesting features are its exposed ceilings, which show the building’s old concrete waffle slabs. Aside from aesthetic interest, they provide an educational opportunity to spur students’ thinking about architecture and construction.
“The school is very supportive of, let’s show the kids what’s normally hidden behind a drop ceiling. Let’s show them a sprinkler pipe and let’s show them the ductwork,” Rainforth says. “They really celebrate the old structure of the building. Can you see the drain line from the tenant upstairs coming through? Sure, but you can tell a story to the kids about it.”
The exposed ceiling also served a more practical purpose. The distance from floor to ceiling was about 12 feet. “If we had put in a ceiling it would have been pretty darn low,” Rainforth says. That compressed space also increased the importance of windows.
“Bringing light into the space was important—it made it feel larger than it really is,” says project manager Evan Diomede. This included using glass sidelights and accommodating the building’s unique shape. “It’s an oddly shaped building,” he says. “There are two corners that jut out, and we put two classrooms on both ends, and we were able to utilize all these big windows.”
Another issue: Fresh air. “The school has more fresh air requirements than an old building like that is able to supply,” says Rainforth. “We had to put some louvers into window sashes to bring in massive amounts of fresh air.”
The school opened—on time—in September 2024. Diomede recently visited and was thrilled to see students learning and interacting.
“They’re loving the space,” he says. “Kids were playing games in the multipurpose room and using the breakout space. To turn it over and see everybody using it, especially after such an expedited schedule, it’s a very cool experience.”
For both men, meeting that schedule is a particular point of pride.
“We were told by so many people, ‘there’s no way this school can open on time,’” Rainforth says. “And Evan and I said, ‘You know what? We’re gonna do what we’ve got to do.’ And those kids were in their seats on day one.”
It’s an accomplishment worthy of an A+.
