Wildwood School, a K-12 private school with campuses in Mar Vista and West Los Angeles, has purchased the 100,700-square-foot Ocean Park Plaza at 2701 Ocean Park Blvd. and plans to convert it into a new upper-school campus.

Head of School Matt Levinson confirmed the acquisition to the Santa Monica Sun on Monday, July 21, calling it a chance to give the school "a permanent school-owned home that we can shape for generations of students to come."

The purchase marks a return to Santa Monica for Wildwood, which started on Olympic Blvd. in the 1970s before expanding to campuses in Mar Vista and West Los Angeles. The upper school has operated under a long-term lease at 11811 West Olympic Blvd. since 2001. That lease runs through 2040, and Levinson described the transition as a "multi-year process and project." No target date for students to occupy the building has been announced.

Wildwood's elementary school will remain at its Mar Vista campus. Only the upper school is slated to move.

The two-story Ocean Park Plaza complex is 73% vacant, according to the Sun's reporting. Current tenants include Providence Santa Monica Family Physicians and the dental practice of Dr. Jason Ray. Levinson said Wildwood intends to honor existing tenant leases and that turnover will be gradual.

One draw of the site: Clover Park, a 17.7-acre city park with baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and tennis courts, sits directly across 28th Street. Wildwood's current Olympic Blvd. campus lacks dedicated outdoor athletic space, and coaches bus students to Stoner Park, Rancho Park, and other Westside locations for daily practice.

"We obviously want to work closely with the city of Santa Monica to make that happen," Levinson told the Sun. "But we certainly would hope to be able to access Clover Park for our programming… with good partnership with the city."

The city has not commented on Wildwood's interest in Clover Park access.

Private school shifts in Santa Monica

Wildwood's arrival comes as Santa Monica's private education landscape shifts. The 66-year-old Santa Monica Montessori School at 1909 Colorado Ave. concluded its summer camp on Friday, July 17, and will not reopen. In a July 9 letter to families, Executive Director Pam Crisman wrote that a new school would assume occupancy of the facility. That new operator is Alpha School, an AI-driven program that charges roughly $65,000 per year and uses what it calls a "teacherless" model.

No purchase price for Ocean Park Plaza has been disclosed.

Levinson took over as head of school on Tuesday, July 1, succeeding Landis Green, who led Wildwood since 2007. At his previous post at San Francisco's University High School, Levinson oversaw fundraising and construction for a $91 million campus expansion. At The Pingry School in New Jersey, he spearheaded the acquisition of an 80-acre boarding school campus.

Susan Olsen, chair of Wildwood's Board of Trustees, said in a June 2025 press release announcing Levinson's hiring that the board voted unanimously for him, calling him "the right candidate for this moment in the life of Wildwood."

Any conversion of the commercial property to school use would require city planning approval.