Press Release: Westside Neighborhood School (WNS) Announces Transformational Purchase of 132,000sf Building on 5 Acre Property at 5340 Alla Road in Playa Vista.

Westside Neighborhood School (WNS) Announces Transformational
Purchase of 132,000sf Building on 5 Acre Property at 5340 Alla Road in Playa Vista.

 

PLAYA VISTA, Los Angeles, Calif. (May 15, 2024) — Westside Neighborhood School (WNS) - a private independent school that has been educating children from preschool through 8th grade since 1980 - announced the transformational purchase of a 132,000-square-foot building sitting on over 5 acres of land in Playa Vista - a move that will secure the future of the school, which currently leases its three-building campus.

The new acquisition, located at 5340 Alla Road, is just 600 feet from the school’s current Playa Vista area campus buildings and will dramatically enhance the school’s already cutting-edge educational facilities and capabilities, along with maintaining the school’s exceptional standards of student safety.

The addition of the 5340 Alla Road building will be transformative for the school with double the programmatic spaces of its current facilities. This increase will have a profound impact on the school’s preschool-8th grade programs and the long-term financial position of the school, including:

 

• Additional classrooms for the elementary school, enabling smaller class sizes by providing 3 classes for each grade in kindergarten-5th grade;
• Relocation of the DK (developmental kindergarten) classrooms to the Alla Road building, creating a dedicated DK/K educational center, and opening up additional space in the Early Childhood Center for preschool students;
• Larger DK-8th grade classrooms. Current classrooms average 400-600 square feet. Classrooms in the new building will range from 700-1000 square feet, providing much-needed space to amplify the project-based collaborative learning program at WNS.
• Programmatic expansion including the addition of a dance center, photography and digital arts, filmmaking, robotics, instrumental music, and community meeting rooms;

The 5340 Alla Road property sits on 5.13 acres of land yielding twice the outdoor space the school currently has. This additional outdoor space will create a plethora of opportunities, including:

 

• Additional space for lunch tables and playgrounds, allowing more scheduling flexibility for the DK-8 students as well as extended play time;
• A larger DK-8 playground, climbing structure, and turf field;
• Capacity for the future development of a playing field and running track;
• Increased parent and faculty parking, alleviating the burden on local street parking;

WNS’s Head of School, Brad Zacuto, who has held the position for 16 years and overseen the growth of WNS into one of the premier private independent schools in Los Angeles, stated

“We have worked for over ten years to position WNS to take advantage of a unique opportunity if and when it might occur to own our school property, and this opportunity exceeds all of our expectations. This is a transformational moment for WNS that will help secure the financial sustainability and capacity for essential programmatic growth of the school for generations of preschool-8th grade students to come.”

The WNS Board of Trustees, who helped Mr. Zacuto navigate this transaction, stated:

This purchase is a monumental achievement for WNS and will cement the legacy of the school as a premier independent school in the center of Los Angeles. As fiduciaries of the School, securing a
permanent home for the School has long been a significant Board goal, as well as a major recommendation of our accrediting agencies. WNS is now sustainably positioned to continue its mission-critical work.

WNS has partnered with architectural firm Smith-Clementi on the site’s renovation with an anticipated opening date of fall 2026, in time for the 2026-27 school year.

WNS will consolidate its preschool-8th grade programming from two of its three currently leased Playa Vista buildings totaling 66,000 square feet to the new property sitting just 600 feet to the west on Alla Road.

The school secured California tax-exempt municipal bonds through the California Municipal Finance Authority for the property purchase and renovation through HJ Sims. David Kimball, Executive Managing Director at NAI Capital, was the broker for WNS on this transaction.

 

About Westside Neighborhood School:
WNS is an independent preschool-8th grade school located in Playa Vista, Los Angeles. WNS is
committed to creating a deeply caring community of lifelong learners that nurtures students from
diverse backgrounds to reach their full potential, develop cultural competency, and inspire the world
with their curiosity, innovation, compassion, and stewardship.

WNS’s program is built on four pillars: academic excellence; character; diversity, equity, inclusion, and
justice; and community. Faculty members model what they teach: respect and responsibility, love of
teaching and joy of learning, sense of humor, open communication, and teamwork. Students are
encouraged to be creative, independent, and self-disciplined. At WNS, we believe in the importance
of fostering resilience in our students, valuing perseverance, effort, and learning from mistakes. Our
students understand the importance of community while respecting individual differences. Our goal
is to instill in our students a love of learning, cultural sensitivity, and a deep understanding of the
world both in and outside the classroom.

Westside Neighborhood School is an accredited member of the California Association of
Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). For
more information, visit wns-la.org.