It has been almost two years to the day since New London learned that it had landed a $31 million grant to renovate the Garde Arts Center property to do double-service as an arts magnet high school. Then state Sen. Andrea Stillman, who was not seeking re-election after a 22-year legislative career, parlayed her position as chair of both the Education Committee and its School Construction Subcommittee to deliver the prize to New London.

At the time, the planned arts high school at the Garde was nothing more than a broad concept.

Finally, the project is moving close to fruition. It is truly exciting.

“It was a labor,” said Superintendent Manuel J. Rivera of the lengthy discussions involving the Garde and school administration. “It was a labor of love.”

A two-page agreement, dated April 27, between the Garde and school administration outlines an arrangement intended to assure the work is eligible for the $31 million in educational grant money. State officials are now evaluating the plan.

“Obviously there are a few agreements we have to reach, but the hard part is done,” Rivera said.

Under the proposal, construction of the New London Magnet School for Visual and Performing Arts would take place on Garde-owned property adjacent to the theater. New London would lease the property — including the Mercer Building — for a token $1, with the city given “autonomy to build, maintain, improve and operate its own building as the Arts Magnet High School.”

The state would also allow grant money to pay for design and construction of a 250-seat studio theater owned by the Garde, but also utilized by the high school for technology and performance training.

The arts magnet high school would be the culmination of the visual and performing arts pathway beginning at Nathan Hale Arts (elementary) Magnet School and continuing through the Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School. It is expected students will interact with artists and performers visiting the Garde.

It is an inventive educational approach. While safeguards must be in place to assure tax money is allocated responsibly, the state should not let unreasonable rigidity block access to the funds.

If designers can renovate and reutilize the Mercer and neighboring Meridian buildings, all the better. However, that may not prove practical. They could have to be razed to make way for a modern high school. The priority driving that decision should be how to best develop a first-class magnet high school.

The students, and their futures, matter more than brick and mortar.