In May, Saks Fifth Avenue announced plans to consolidate in Greenwich from three stores to one, with their Women’s Shoes at 20 East Elm Street relocating into the main Saks Fifth Avenue Greenwich store in June.
Today there is a new pre-application submitted to the Greenwich Planning & Zoning commission to change the use of the building at 20 East Elm from retail to school, which is permitted in the CGB zone.
The property owner is Elm Street RSK LLC.
The applicant is Alpha School, with an address on the pre-application in Austin, Texas.
The AI-powered private school network was co-founded by software billionaire Joe Liemandt, who has committed billions to scaling this school model.
From Alpha School pre-application to Greenwich P&Z.
Saks women’s shoes at 20 East Elm St. May 13, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
According to an article about Alpha School in the New York Times in July 2025, “A.I.-Driven Education: Founded in Texas and Coming to a School Near You,” at the Austin, Texas’s “pricey private A.I. school,” students spend two hours a day on academics, led by artificial intelligence tools. The article said new Alpha Schools were the works for about a dozen cities.
According to Alpha School’s P&Z pre-application, the building is 17,669 sq ft. Alpha School proposes to use about 9220 sq ft of the building’s first floor.
The narrative notes the applicant anticipates the commission will focus on parking for the school.
The building was used for decades by Greenwich Time, who added a second floor to the building in 1960 and a rear extension in 1971.
In 2008 when Greenwich Time stopped using the building, the owner applied for a site plan and special permit to convert the entire building from non-conforming office and light industrial use to general office use.
Given the limited parking on site, the P&Z commission in 2008 directed the applicant to proceed to final site plan and limited the site to 68 employees given Greenwich Time’s employment in 1960 was 51 men and 17 women.
In 2009 the commission approved the final site plan and special permit with the 68 employee limitation for the general office use.
In 2010 the owner reapplied to the commission for a change of use to permit retail on the first floor, with the second floor remaining office use and continued the 68-employee limit.
Urban Outfitters occupied a portion of the space until 2014, when Saks took over that space.
Currently all retail areas of the building are vacant or will soon be vacant. The second floor is occupied by a medical office.
The application narrative says, “Normally a medical office would require a different parking calculation than general office, but the 68 employee limitation which wends its way through the decisions is silent as to any such distinction. According to the building owner, there are currently 15 employees working in the office, including six doctors. This would allow an additional 53 employees for other uses.”
Alpha School anticipates having a maximum of 10 employees on site upon reaching full enrollment, with no student parking inasmuch as enrollment does not extend past 8th grade.
Students would be dropped off and picked up, take public transportation or walk to school, making parking demand minimal.
Alpha School is working with traffic engineers at Kimley-Horne to determine best drop off and pick up area location.
The pre-application has yet to be scheduled for a P&Z agenda.
Saks women’s shoes at 20 East Elm St. May 13, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager