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Academy buys land to build school
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
A private school in Carrollwood has agreed to buy about 70 acres in Land O'Lakes to build what it calls a "world-class college preparatory high school" for 600 students in a lakefront setting. Independent Day School, a nonsectarian academy teaching 479 students from preschool to eighth grade, signed a contract two weeks ago to buy the property along West Lake Ellis from the Zambito family. For years, the 34-year-old day school has sought a site in the northern suburbs of Tampa to open a high school, hoping to partner with other independent schools seeking to expand into grades 9 through 12. "Independent Day School is driving it and hopes to involve all the schools in the north who'd like to be a part of it," school headmaster Joyce Swarzman said Wednesday. "It will be a world-class high school with world-class academics, sports and performing arts." The land, on which the Zambitos graze cattle, stretches west of U.S. 41 and Bell Lake Road. Swarzman said the site is strategically placed between the Suncoast Parkway and Interstate 75. It's a 15-minute drive from the school's campus at 12015 Orange Grove Drive in Carrollwood. One neighboring landowner, Doug King, is among the Land O'Lakes residents who targeted the lakeside property as a proposed parklike "town center." But he also is a day school parent and serves on the school's building committee. "The neighbors I've spoken to are very positive about it," King said. "I think we'd all rather have nothing there, but it will be better if it's an environmentally sensitive high school than a high-density subdivision with jet ski owners using the lake." In keeping with some neighbors' wishes, the school proposes building the $25-million campus in an "Old Florida" style, King said. Tuition isn't established, but it won't be cheap. It will be in line with tuition at other private high schools in the Tampa Bay area, Swarzman said. Independent Day School charges from $6,730 to $7,230 per student each year. It's the second private high school to announce big construction plans in Pasco. In August, the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg expects to open Bishop McLaughlin High School off Hays Road in Shady Hills. Independent Day School collaborated once before with other private schools to try to build a high school, but the project dissolved in 2000. Its partners were Academy at the Lakes in Land O'Lakes, Hillel School of Tampa and Carrollwood Day School in Odessa. Swarzman stressed that the project is a "whole new start," although her school could rebuild partnerships with those same schools, which mainly serve kindergarten through eighth grade. "It's happened so quickly, we'll announce who the partners will be when they've had chance to consider it," Swarzman said. Landowner John Zambito said the deal with the day school is sound and scheduled to close within 18 months. The school could open as early as 2006.
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