One of the largest private schools in the D.C. region — the Lycée Rochambeau, The French International School — is hoping to bid adieu to its campus in Bethesda and bonjour to a larger consolidated campus to meet the needs of its growing school population.
Lycée Rochambeau, with about 1,000 students from preschool through high school, is looking for between 7 and 13 acres in Northwest D.C. and Montgomery County after its growth over the years forced to spread out over three different locations in Montgomery County. The school has retained Edge Commercial Real Estate to help it with the search, which would likely involve selling the two campuses it owns and letting the lease on its third expire so it can bring its students onto one site.
The school goes back to 1955, when it opened at 2118 Kalorama Road NW in the District, and has since moved its main campus to 9600 Forest Road in North Bethesda. It operates two other sites, a preschool and kindergarten at 7108 Bradley Blvd. in Bethesda, and an elementary school that operates from leased space at 3200 Woodbine St. in Chevy Chase.
“It’s been growing significantly in the last decade and to be able to accommodate that growth our school has expanded onto three campuses,” said Francios Legros, chairman of the school’s board of trustees. “For the next 20 years, we believe that the school has a very, very high level of growth potential, and moving from three campuses to five or six in the future would pose a significant challenge.”
The school is hoping to keep its main campus in Montgomery County and would like to find one site for its needs, but Legros said it is also open to breaking it into two sites, perhaps one in Montgomery County and one in D.C. A third campus in Northern Virginia could be a fit, as well.
The school has students from 55 nationalities. It is seeking a consolidated campus of about 70,000 square feet, and Edge Vice President Josh Katz sad he has already reached out to economic development and planning officials in Montgomery County and the District.
Edge Principal Marc Balamaci said it could take about six months to make a selection and the school hopes to be at its new address about three years from now. Edge would likely then seek buyers for the current school properties. The Forest Road campus is assessed at about $13.1 million, and the Bradley Boulevard one at about $2.5 million, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation.
