Aug Prep to open K-12 school at former Cardinal Stritch campus in 2026
After Cardinal Stritch University abruptly closed last summer, it seemed its buildings would quickly find new life as St. Augustine Preparatory Academy bought the campus and announced plans for a K-12 Christian school to open there in fall 2025.
Those plans have been pushed back a year, as school officials said it became clear the buildings were less move-in ready than expected. According to a Tuesday announcement, the now $100-million project will involve demolishing some buildings, renovating others and constructing new buildings.
The unforeseen costs are not a deal-breaker for St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, known as Aug Prep, which is heavily funded by the Ramirez Family Foundation. Gus Ramirez, who for decades led regional manufacturing company Husco, used Husco profits to launch the foundation with his wife, Becky. Their daughter, Abby Andrietsch, is the CEO of Aug Prep, which opened its south side campus in 2017.
The family foundation paid $24 million for the 43-acre Stritch campus, which is in Fox Point and Glendale. The Ramirez family and Husco have committed a total of $75 million to the project.
When Ramirez first shared plans for the Stritch campus, he anticipated demolishing dormitory buildings to make way for athletic fields, but he expected the school would be able to use other existing buildings and would not require new construction.
Now, the school is planning to demolish all buildings except the gym, library, campus center and fine arts building, which will be renovated. With new construction, the campus is expected to have STEM labs, music and fine arts spaces, a new fieldhouse, a turf soccer field and an outdoor track.
Beginning in fall 2026, the new campus, known as Aug Prep North, will initially serve over 300 students in ninth grade and grades K4 through six, according to the school's announcement, and will continue to grow. After a second phase of expansion, the campus is meant to ultimately serve over 2,000 students.
When Ramirez announced plans for the campus in August, he said the campus could draw Milwaukee students as well as suburban students, with potentially 30%-50% of students paying tuition — a departure from the current campus on the south side, where 99% of students do not pay tuition. Students qualify for vouchers if their family's income falls under certain levels.
Ramirez said he wants the new campus to be more diverse than the current campus, where state data show the vast majority of students are Hispanic or Latino. He said he envisioned the new campus serving more Black students and white students, specifically including students from Ozaukee County because of the lack of local private high schools. He said families may be looking for a Christian alternative to public schools, which he said have seen "the woke coming in."
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aug Prep to open K-12 school at Cardinal Stritch campus in 2026
