Montessori school takes over former Purdue Polytechnic building in Broad Ripple

1405 Broad Ripple Ave.

A local Montessori school has acquired the former Purdue Polytechnic High School building in Broad Ripple and plans to move its operations to the property later this year.

Peanut Montessori, which leases a 2,000-square-foot space at 4548 N. College Ave., acquired the 12,100-square-foot brick building along Broad Ripple Avenue on Monday for an undisclosed price through holding company Big Hop 1405 LLC. It purchased the building from Indianapolis-based real estate developer Keystone Group.

Peanut Montessori’s existing home accommodates infant and toddler programs, but the move to a larger building is focused on enabling further growth in the coming years, including more expansive program offerings.

Purdue Polytechnic occupied the building from 2019 to mid-2022 before moving to the former Broad Ripple High School building next door after outgrowing the property. The school had initially looked at partnering with Keystone to build a new school in the 6200 block of College Avenue, but ultimately sought—and received—approval from Indianapolis Public Schools to remain in the high school building.

Broad Ripple residents Nina and Nate Robinson began Peanut in August 2020 after taking a loan from their retirement savings to renovate their Broad Ripple home’s basement to support classes for toddlers. The operation moved to its current location one year later, expanding to include infant programs.

“We scoped multiple properties prior to this acquisition, and it quickly became a no-brainer that the 1405 Broad Ripple Ave. property aligned best with our needs,” Nina Robinson told IBJ in emailed responses to questions. “The community needs additional access to quality early childhood learning centers, and this property allows us to make a big hop while maintaining additional square footage to grow further when prudent.”

Before housing Purdue Polytechnic, the 69-year-old building was home to the Central Indiana Community Foundation for more than a decade.

She said the Broad Ripple Avenue building’s size is a “natural fit” for the Montessori’s growing needs, in terms of size, functionality and location.

While she declined to share how much Peanut plans to spend to renovate the building, work is expected to be completed this summer. Indianapolis-based Mud & Marble has been hired oversee the renovation, which will include a new roof and HVAC system. The building’s interior structure will largely stay intact, but is expected to undergo extensive aesthetic improvements.

“It was an added benefit that the location most recently operated as a school to help reduce construction costs in our initial expansion,” Nina Robinson said.

The main level of the building will house the infant and toddler programs, with each program expanding to two classrooms. The lower level will be used as a gross motor skills area for children to learn and play. The upper level will offer a new primary care program with mixed-age classrooms to serve students through at least age 6, when students begin state-required standardized classroom instruction. (Few Montessori schools in Indiana are accredited by the state to offer instruction beyond 6 years old.)

The school does not plan to launch a capital campaign to support the new building, but rather plans to use an annual fundraiser organized by its parent group to support continued programming.

“Peanut Montessori is proud to create an environment that families can be confident in the care and education of their children—but we need more space to offer this service to more families in our community,” Nina Robinson said. “This new building allows us to do exactly that—improve accessibility to quality early childhood learning in central Indiana.”

She said the school is expected to actively use about three-quarters of the building’s square footage as part of its initial growth, with a goal of serving up to 150 families per semester.

“We love Broad Ripple. This is the community we bought our first house together in and continue to reside in today,” she said. “There was never any doubt that Broad Ripple was the right place for our business to grow. The community rallies around small business in a way you don’t see in other cities or states and there is this innate love for diversity that is so critical for the development of children.”