John Rex Charter Elementary has purchased a three-story office building in downtown Oklahoma City for $5,075,000, setting the stage for the district’s first high school campus to open its doors in Fall 2027. The property, known as The Athenian, sits at 615 N. Hudson Ave. and totals 31,215 square feet, meaning the charter school paid roughly $162.58 per square foot to secure the site.
According to CoStar, the deal was an owner-user sale, with John Rex Charter Elementary acquiring the building from a private individual who wanted to downsize his real estate portfolio. The Athenian will be converted from office space into a public charter school, joining a growing footprint of downtown campuses run by the John Rex system. Built in 2001, the building sits on a 0.24-acre corner lot within a Federal Opportunity Zone and Oklahoma City’s Downtown Business Improvement District, according to Commercial Search.
A Downtown Campus Network Years in the Making
John Rex opened its original elementary campus at 500 W. Sheridan Ave. in 2014, then expanded by leasing the McAlpine Center at 428 W. California Ave. in 2020 for middle school grades before opening a junior high campus at the historic Carnegie Centre in August 2025, per OKC VeloCity. The Athenian purchase extends that pattern into high school territory for the first time, giving the charter network a real path toward a complete downtown PK–12 pipeline.
The timing lines up with broader shifts in Oklahoma City’s office market. Commercial real estate firm Price Edwards & Company reported the city’s office market closed out 2025 with a 25.9% vacancy rate across 17.8 million square feet of inventory, conditions that have made Class B buildings like The Athenian more affordable for non-corporate buyers, including schools looking to convert office space for classrooms.
Leadership Already in Place Ahead of Fall 2027
John Rex named Dr. Rhonda Hart as founding principal of the new high school in May 2026, alongside Carmen Oswalt as Chief Academic Officer, according to John Rex Charter School. The two are expected to spend the 2026–2027 school year preparing curriculum and operations ahead of the campus opening. The Charter School Growth Fund reports the high school model is built around five industry-aligned career pathways designed to connect students directly with downtown employers through project-based learning and internships, part of a broader goal of establishing a full PK–12 network by 2028…