December 2014 –
IYRS School of Technology & Trades announced today a major property acquisition of a half-acre parcel of the Casey Marina properties at Spring Wharf. The acquired property is immediately to the south of the school’s Newport campus. The property sold for $1.9mm.
The acquisition further demonstrates IYRS’ continued progress. In 2009, the school restored the 27,000 square foot Aquidneck mill building on the current 2.5-acre waterfront campus. The mill, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is home to the school, as well as commercial tenants. Accordingly, IYRS pays local taxes associated with the tenant rents.
“We have an extraordinary model for experiential learning at a time when there is great need in the economy for people who can make, manufacture and build either through great hand work or through the use of technology,” said Terry Nathan, President. “Graduate outcomes at IYRS have been a validation of our approach.”
Better than 90% of graduates have been employed on or about the time of graduation, according to IYRS, and increasingly as the school has diversified its program offerings, graduates have been employed in many fields in Rhode Island and beyond, including the marine trades; fine joinery; aerospace; automotive and education. Some IYRS graduates have continued their education in the fields of architecture, engineering and other technical fields.
IYRS plans to move its Bristol-based programs in Composites Technology and Marine Systems into the new facilities and to use these facilities to establish a Rhode Island incubator to bring industry and IYRS closer together through collaborative projects.
During the past couple of years, IYRS has collaborated with important educational institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Roger Williams University. The school is in similar discussions with Salve Regina University.
“The school’s development has helped Newport economically as well,” said Nathan. “We have helped to improve the neighborhood through campus restoration; brought employers from out of state into the mill building who have in turn created jobs; and now with increasing enrollment, we are bringing even more revenue into the community. It is a win-win for IYRS and Newport.”
With much of the Newport harbor developed now, IYRS represents an important link to the community’s working waterfront heritage.
“We take that connective thread very seriously,” says Clark Poston, Vice President of Industry Relations and a 17-year employee of the school. “We view it as part of our core values – saving a bit of Newport’s great history in the face of so much development.”