SOUTH PORTLAND — La Petite Ecole, a French-English kindergarten, has moved from Spring Street in Portland to 440 Ocean Ave. in South Portland after buying the former Casco Bay Montessori School site.
La Petite Ecole closed on the 2,339-square-foot former single-family house on Aug. 3, for a purchase price of $395,000, according to listing records. The building had housed the Montessori School for 30 years, which closed after the past school year when the owner retired.
La Petite Ecole’s former home, at 131 Spring St. in Portland, is listed by Townsend Real Estate for $649,000. The 1880 townhouse is 4,788 square feet on three floors.
The school will officially open at its new site Sept. 10, and the school will hold a ribbon-cutting Sept. 8.
An opportunity to grow
The school was founded in September 2009 by Marie-Gaelle Casset-Ford, and has a bilingual curriculum with a focus on the arts, according to a news release.
Casset-Ford said in a news release that the new location provides area for outdoor play and plenty of parking.
“Most importantly it will enable us to grow from a new foundation in this next chapter as we continue to educate children in the French language,” she said.
The former site, at one time a single-family home, but with many uses over the year, has an outdoor private patio, four fireplaces, and no parking, though leased parking is available, according to the MLS listing.
