It wasn’t that long ago that the trustees of the Newman School were seriously contemplating a move out of the Back Bay, and cashing in on the valuable real estate that the nonprofit private school owns on Marlborough Street.

But now, the school is taking the opposite approach: It’s doubling down on the pricey Boston neighborhood, by buying an 11,500-square-foot property on nearby Newbury Street that will increase its total real estate holdings by about 50 percent. […] The Jesuit priests who once lived there will soon be replaced by international students attending middle and high school at the Newman School, whose main campus is a roughly 10-minute walk away, at 245-247 Marlborough St.

[…]

The Newman School had hired Boston Realty Advisors about a decade ago to potentially look for a new home. But when BRA managing director Chris McMahon called Schafer around Christmastime last winter to let him know about the availability of the Jesuits’ building, Schafer knew he had found a way to grow the school while staying in the neighborhood instead of searching for more space elsewhere in the city.

“It feels great,” Schafer says about the decision to stay put and expand. “The possibilities are really exciting.”

The full article can be viewed on the Boston Globe website.