SLO Classical Academy gets go ahead for new campus. See what’s planned
An old office park will become the home of one of San Luis Obispo’s top daycare and education programs by the start of the 2026-27 school year.
After gaining the approval of the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission on Wednesday evening, three San Luis Obispo Classical Academy locations — the K-8 site at 165 Grand Ave., the preschool and infant care site at Grand Avenue and Slack Street and staff office from 1880 Santa Barbara Ave. — have the green light to start the renovation and move-in process at 3450 Broad St., the current home of Acacia Creek Business Park.
Tim Ronda, a principal architect with applicant representative Studio Design Group Architects, said the move comes as the school’s current leases are set to expire at the end of the next school year.
Move-in to the new location would be expected in just over a year.
Ronda added during his comments to the Planning Commission that the new facility checks many of the school’s boxes as is, and can be turned around relatively quickly as the academy closes the process of purchasing the building.
“This has been quite a journey for SLOCA, and they have been searching for a permanent school site for the past 12 years,” Ronda said. “It’s very, very difficult — needle in a haystack — and frankly, we have now run out of time, as their current leases are set to expire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.”
New SLO Classical Academy site will consolidate three locations
According to the staff report, the 3.5-acre site currently home to Acacia Business Park features a 52,000 square-foot commercial building that was approved by the Planning Commission on Nov. 17, 1997.
In the place of the existing leased office spaces in the park, 19 classrooms and flex spaces, seven preschool and infant care rooms, a gym, library, kitchen, break room, storage space administrative offices and meeting rooms are planned as part of an internal renovation, according to the staff report.
These new classrooms and learning spaces will maintain the small class sizes that SLO Classical Academy is known for, with a maximum of 372 students attending in-person classes at any one time, according to the staff report.
To serve different types of students, the school will offer a full-time program — a traditional classroom setting during the entire school week — and a hybrid program that alternates between traditional classroom settings and at-home learning during the school week, according to the staff report.
Structural improvements are largely limited to the interior of the building, with the only exterior changes including the loading dock enclosure, removing the northern parking lot and landscaping.
Outside, an outdoor field, recreational activity areas, outdoor decks for classrooms, and a seating area are planned to replace some of the existing landscaping and hardscape such as the building’s northern parking lot, according to the staff report.
The southern parking lot would provide 88 parking spaces — three more than the 85 required for a site of that size, according to the staff report.
The site improvements will increase the gross floor area by around 4,300 square feet to create an enclosure for the loading dock, a gym and gym lobby, along with second-floor offices and a library mezzanine, meaning most of the square footage expansions will be inside the building, according to the staff report.
Some 20 trees are expected to be removed but replaced by 45 trees along the perimeter of the outdoor field, along with around Sacramento Drive and along the south parking area, according to the staff report.
As part of its conditions for its unanimous approval, the Planning Commission told the academy to implement a monitoring program to keep an eye on whether traffic precautions are effective during the busiest traffic hours around, with any needed changes to be implemented in the school’s second year on the property, according to the staff report.
A new coat of paint and facade refresh are also planned at the front.
Teachers, parents excited for new school space
During public comment, SLO Classical Academy teacher Stephanie Ridley said she sent her own kids to SLO Classical Academy because of the strong learning environment, focus on history and classical literature.
Ridley said she’s looking forward to working in a space that fits the academy’s needs so well compared to its existing locations.
“We are fortunate to have had SLOCA for nearly 20 years now, and we’re looking forward to having many more decades of it to come,” Ridley said. “Please see the value and the need for SLOCA in this community and understand the financial limitations that the school naturally has as well as it expands and grows to serve even more of the community here in San Luis Obispo County.”
Ezra Morrow, a parent of students at SLO Classical Academy, said he’s excited to see an expansion to the “wonderful school” his children attend during public comment.
“We’re excited to have more space — a new space and opportunity for the kids to grow into and for the school to grow into,” Morrow said. “We feel really blessed to be a part of it, and we think it definitely blesses San Luis Obispo and the county with the population of students and parents that it brings to the area.”
