Central Florida’s Private Schools Are Building Big: Three Campus Expansions to Watch
Trinity Prep’s new Humanities Commons is the latest sign of a private-school building wave stretching from Winter Park to College Park to downtown Orlando. Here is what is going up, who is behind it, and why so many campuses are expanding at once.
Trinity Prep’s planned Humanities Commons leads a wave of Central Florida private-school expansions, alongside new projects at Bishop Moore and Lake Highland.
Image: Jared Jones Team
What to Know
The Central Florida private-school building wave in brief
Three independent schools are adding major new space at the same time, each responding to steady local enrollment demand.
Trinity Prep, Winter Park. A 14,180-square-foot Humanities Commons with classrooms, a language lab, dining and student common areas, filed for approval with Orange County.
Bishop Moore, College Park. A roughly $21 million, 28,500-square-foot Center for the Arts with a 200-seat theater, now under construction on Edgewater Drive.
Lake Highland, Orlando. A 48,000-square-foot athletic center and lighted turf field for nearly 700 athletes, which broke ground in May 2026.
Central Florida’s private schools are in the middle of a building boom. Trinity Preparatory School has filed plans for a 14,180-square-foot Humanities Commons in Winter Park, the newest in a wave of campus expansions that also includes Bishop Moore Catholic’s roughly $21 million Center for the Arts in College Park and Lake Highland Preparatory’s 48,000-square-foot athletic center in downtown Orlando.
Trinity Prep has filed a development plan with Orange County for a new classroom and dining hall building on the south side of its 100-acre campus at 5700 Trinity Prep Lane. The school, which now enrolls 890 students, up from about 857 in 2023, will replace an existing building near the Maughn Administration Center and Brokaw Hall with the new Humanities Commons.
Trinity Prep’s Humanities Commons, explained
The Humanities Commons will bring dining space, classrooms, a language lab and student common areas together under one roof. At 14,180 square feet, it is built for a student body that has grown steadily since the Episcopal college-preparatory school opened its first class in 1968, and it follows the 34,000-square-foot Nochur Sankar Science Center that opened in August 2025. Trinity Prep, which serves grades 6 through 12, ranks among the largest private schools in the region by enrollment.
The cost and fundraising plan for the Humanities Commons have not yet been publicly detailed. The filing puts the project in front of Orange County for approval, an early step before construction.
Bishop Moore’s $21 million Center for the Arts
West of Winter Park, Bishop Moore Catholic High School is building a 28,500-square-foot Center for the Arts at 3821 Edgewater Drive in College Park. The roughly $21 million building will house an approximately 200-seat theater, classrooms for dance, drama, choir and orchestra, studios for digital media, photography, drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics, and a lobby art gallery.
Designed by Schenkel Shultz Architecture with Williams Company as construction manager, the project pulled city permits in early August 2026 and is now under construction, funded in part by the school’s Imagine Moore capital campaign. Moving the arts program into the new building also frees space in Bishop Dorsey Hall for additional classrooms.
Lake Highland’s 48,000-square-foot athletic center
In downtown Orlando, Lake Highland Preparatory School broke ground in May 2026 on the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute Athletic Center and Bray Family Field. The 48,000-square-foot facility and full-sized lighted turf field are built to serve nearly 700 Highlander athletes across 54 teams in 17 sports. Like the Bishop Moore project, it was designed by Schenkel Shultz Architecture, with Whiting-Turner as general contractor, and it anchors the school’s Elevate Highlanders campaign.
Why so many private schools are building at once
The local building wave runs against a cooler national backdrop. The American Institute of Architects projects that education construction will grow just 1.5 percent in 2026 and 1.1 percent in 2027, slowed by immigration policy, reduced federal funding and shifting demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau expects meaningfully fewer school-age children nationally over the next decade, which the AIA says will push more spending toward renovating older facilities rather than building new ones.
Central Florida looks like an exception. Here, families keep arriving, and enrollment pressure is pushing schools to add space rather than trim it. When three campuses break ground within roughly a year of one another, in Winter Park, College Park and downtown Orlando, it says something about how deep local demand for seats has become.
The building wave by the numbers
Together, three campuses are adding more than 90,000 square feet of new space at a time when much of the country is scaling education construction back.
A light real estate read on the trend
For buyers, private-school investment is a quiet signal about where families are putting down roots. Schools expand where enrollment is stable or growing, and three campuses building at once points to neighborhoods that keep drawing households willing to pay for education.
For homeowners nearby, strong and well-funded schools tend to support demand and give a corridor lasting appeal, well beyond any single building. It is the kind of slow, structural strength that rarely makes headlines but quietly shapes where people want to live.
The Takeaway
Three private schools building at once is more than a coincidence. Trinity Prep’s Humanities Commons, Bishop Moore’s Center for the Arts and Lake Highland’s athletic center together add more than 90,000 square feet of new space across Central Florida, even as much of the country is pulling back on new school construction.
Watch what comes next. If enrollment keeps climbing and these campaigns stay funded, this wave of campus investment looks less like a one-time burst and more like a read on where the region’s family demand is heading.
FAQ
What is Trinity Prep building in Winter Park?
Trinity Preparatory School has filed plans for a 14,180-square-foot Humanities Commons: a new classroom and dining hall building with classrooms, a language lab, dining space and student common areas, on the south side of its campus at 5700 Trinity Prep Lane. It replaces an existing building near the Maughn Administration Center and Brokaw Hall.
How much does Bishop Moore’s Center for the Arts cost?
About $21 million. The 28,500-square-foot building in College Park will include an approximately 200-seat theater, classrooms for dance, drama, choir and orchestra, visual arts studios and a lobby art gallery. It is under construction after pulling city permits in early August 2026.
What is Lake Highland’s new athletic center?
The Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute Athletic Center and Bray Family Field is a 48,000-square-foot facility with a full-sized lighted turf field, built to serve nearly 700 athletes across 54 teams in 17 sports. It broke ground in May 2026 as part of the school’s Elevate Highlanders campaign.
Why are so many Central Florida private schools expanding now?
Local enrollment demand. Even as the American Institute of Architects projects slow national growth in education construction (1.5 percent in 2026 and 1.1 percent in 2027) amid a declining school-age population, Central Florida keeps drawing families, pushing schools to add classrooms, arts space and athletic facilities.
Who designed the Bishop Moore and Lake Highland buildings?
Both were designed by Schenkel Shultz Architecture, an Orlando-based firm. Williams Company is construction manager on the Bishop Moore project, and Whiting-Turner is the general contractor on the Lake Highland project.
External Links & Related Reading
For readers who want to go straight to the schools and campaigns behind these projects, these are the primary sources.
Thinking about a move near these schools?
Growth stories like these say a lot about where Central Florida’s family demand is heading. When a move is on your radar, local context makes the difference.