The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School has moved into a permanent building of its own at 647 Elton Avenue in Mott Haven. The tuition-free, coed public charter high school, named for the former Knicks guard Earl Monroe, held the ribbon cutting for its new home this month, with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson among those on hand.

The school opened in 2021 in temporary space. The Elton Avenue building is the first one it has built for itself, and it was designed around the idea the school started with: a full high school education organized around basketball and the many careers attached to the game, for students whether they play or not.

What is inside

According to the school, the building runs five stories plus a cellar and covers about 69,000 square feet. The centerpiece is an 8,000-square-foot basketball court with telescopic seating for close to 400 people: 350 spectators plus 40 seats for players and coaches.

Around the gym are 24 regular classrooms, two specialty science classrooms and an art studio. The school lists Pillar Property Management as the developer and ESKW/Architects and IMC Architecture as the architects.

The new building holds up to 440 students in grades 9 through 12. That is about 10 percent more than the 395 the school enrolled before the move, which means room for more Bronx teenagers in each incoming class.

A school built around the game

The school describes its curriculum as entirely designed around basketball and the career paths connected to it. The point is not to turn every student into a player. It is to put teenagers in front of role models from across the business of the sport and to use the game as a way into science, writing, art and math.

Where it is and how to get there

The building sits on Elton Avenue near Third Avenue and East 152nd Street, in the blocks north of the Hub. The 2 and 5 trains stop at Third Avenue and East 149th Street, a short walk south, and buses run along Third Avenue.

For families thinking about applying, the school runs a series of open houses through the winter and spring. The schedule, the open house sign-up form and the student application are on the school's enrollment page. The school's main numbers are 718-873-6049 and 718-228-3787.

Current families can find the Parent Association meetings on the school's calendar; the next ones are listed for Nov. 10, Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

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