New Walker’s Point Middle School

In the shadow of the elevated Interstate 94, a new school is rising in Walker’s Point.

Non-profit United Community Center is constructing a $7.5-million, 30,000-square-foot building at the northeast corner of S. 6th St. and W. Washington Ave. The building will house Acosta Middle School, a charter school focused on technology and skilled trades for students in sixth through eighth grade.

The school is an addition to United Community Center’s Bruce-Guadalupe Community School located on the other side of the freeway at 1028 S. 9th St. Bruce-Guadalupe is a K4 through eighth-grade charter school. Acosta, which opened in 2016, currently operates out of another UCC building at 615 W. Washington St.

The new school’s creation is led by Ricardo Diaz, and is anticipated to enroll 250 students by the 2021-22 school year and boost campus enroll to 1,600. The campus is geared towards educating the area’s large Latino population. Both schools are chartered by UW-Milwaukee.

The pentagon-shaped building is being designed by JAKnetter Architects of Waukesha. The building has a unique shape due to the fact that the freeway bisects the very southwest corner of the site, with a support column holding the roadway just below the top of the building. The site has been vacant for decades.

Nicholas & Associates is leading the building’s construction.

The new building, located at 1038 S. 6th St., is scheduled to open in time for the 2018-19 school year. The organization held a groundbreaking in October 2017 for the facility.

According to the UCC website, Acosta is named after Dora and Israel “Shorty”Acosta in recognition of their decades of service to the UCC and community.

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