School moving to iQor building
Great Commission set to leave longtime home on Sixth Avenue
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Great Commission School will be moving from its brick building on the 1100 block of Sixth Avenue to a building that formerly housed a supermarket, then a telemarketing firm, in a shopping center in Wehnwood.
The K-12 Christian school has maxed out its 33,000 square feet in its current three-story structure, and will have an additional 10,000 square feet in the one-
story building in Ivyside Plaza, according to Great Commission Superintendent Jennifer McConnell.
The new location will help with student recruitment, because the school will be more easily noticed than at the current location, where motorists are usually focused on their driving along the busy, one-way thoroughfare -- having just passed the big buildings of the Altoona Area High School campus, McConnell said.
"We kind of get lost in the shuffle," she said.
The school bought the former Wissingers, Jubilee and iQor building in Wehnwood in May, after which the organization got its "ducks in a row" with the city, McConnell said. A demolition company began gutting the inside of the structure in late fall. Demolition should finish soon, after which the project architect will work on a structural analysis in preparation for interior construction to begin around the end of spring, she said. The school hopes to move students in during the 2025-26 school year, McConnell said.
"It will be a brand new school," she said. "State of the art."
Great Commission bought the Ivyside Plaza building for a little more than $2 million, McConnell said.
It's not certain what the renovation will cost, said McConnell, who declined to guess.
The relocation project is being financed by donors, who wish to remain anonymous..
"God has definitely blessed us," McConnell said, with "people who believe in our vision and mission."
The school started in the current building in 1996, and since then, especially since COVID-19, has seen enrollment increased, she said.
The school currently has 140 students, 20 full-time staffers, six part-time staffers and three resource individuals who come from outside agencies like the IU8.
"Every square foot of the building is now being used," including all 16 classrooms, McConnell said.
A lack of space requires part-time teachers to share classrooms, with appearances scheduled at different times to avoid conflicts, McConnell said.
The new space will allow for additional students and provide more room for staff.
There will be an administration wing, an elementary wing, a science wing, a big cafeteria, a big auditorium and a "fully functional" kitchen, she said.
The school plans to turn part of the parking lot at the new site into a playground, with green space.
If the organization can raise sufficient funds, it could construct a gymnasium that would attach to the main building, McConnell said.
It's not certain what will happen with the current building on Sixth Avenue after the move.
That building once housed Altoona Catholic High School, now known as Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School.
An enjoyable aspect of McConnell's tenure at Great Commission has been tours taken by BG alumni through the Sixth Avenue building, McConnell said.
Great Commission serves students from Altoona Area, Hollidaysburg Area, Bellwood-Antis, Tyrone Area, Spring Cove and Penn Cambria school districts, McConnell said, adding that tuition averages $5,500 a year. Because the new location is closer to the Allegheny Front, it's possible the school might become eligible to receive students from a few more school districts "up the mountain," McConnell said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.