WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Valor Preparatory Academy will transform the Bosque Square Shopping Center in Waco to be its new campus, taking over space currently occupied by retail businesses.
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The private school has outgrown its current campus and will move into the shopping center that currently houses Craft Gallery, a home decor and gift store that has operated for more than 30 years.
"I attributed it to a phone call from the Lord. My partner called me and I had this idea and said, 'What do you think?' And I said, 'let me look into it...'" said Ralph Lee, who opened Craft Gallery with his wife, Diana, more than three decades ago.
The couple coined their shop, "Waco's largest gift store," housing 150 local vendors.
"We are a store full of unique gifts, unique crafts, unique items that you probably can't find in a department store," Diana Lee said.
Craft Gallery will close its doors on Aug. 30 after 32 years in the Bosque Square Shopping Center to make room for the growing school.
"It's bittersweet, a little bit of unknown, jumping back into something new and different," Diana said.
Wes Kanawyer, head of school at Valor Prep, said the school has simply outgrown its current facilities at 4600 Sanger Ave. The move will renovate most of the center's retail space, but still retain a couple of stores.
"We just continued to run into obstacles that were just really restrictive of our growth," Kanawyer said.
Valor Prep is a pre-K through 12 classical Christian school with more than 500 students enrolled for the upcoming school year, compared to nearly 470 students last year. The new campus will have capacity for nearly 660 students.
"So, to centralize all that we have going on, on one campus primarily is going to be a gift," Kanawyer said.
According to Kanawyer, the Bosque Square Center is Valor's "needle in a haystack," meeting very specific criteria for the school's relocation needs. The property was donated by two Valor supporting families, the Gibson's and Meyer's.
The transition to Bosque Square will happen in three phases, with phase one currently underway.
"It is perfectly centrally located amongst all of our existing valor families and centrally located in the Waco area," Kanawyer said.
Valor Prep hopes to have students in the building for phase one as early as next year, while phase two is still being planned.
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