Presentation Academy has launched its first capital campaign in the school’s 176-year history.

The five-year Tower-Vision campaign will fund a new $5 million facility at the school. The campaign was announced during a ceremony May 5 to break ground on The Presentation Arts and Athletic Center.

The school’s first addition in nearly 60 years will be built on the southwest corner of Fourth and Breckinridge streets on property the school purchased in 2006. The entrance to the new center will be located diagonally across the street from the school’s historic tower. A statue of Mother Catherine Spalding, foundress of the school, will stand outdoors in front of a glass entryway.

“Presentation Academy is making a statement today that she is here to stay; she is here to stay downtown,” said Presentation’s president, Sister of Charity of Nazareth Chris Beckett. Speaking during the ceremony on Monday, she noted that the school draws students from 55 zip codes and creates friendships among students who otherwise would likely never have met.

She also recognized the contributions of the school’s alumnae, board of trustees and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to the school’s viability.

Presentation is the oldest continuously operating school in Louisville. It was founded in 1831, and the current school building was erected in 1893. Presentation’s current gym was constructed in 1938.

The last major construction at the school was in 1949 when an addition was built to the main building. The new facility will include a 300-seat auditorium, a 700-seat gym with basketball and volleyball courts and studios for dance and visual arts, including a kiln room. The second floor of the building will include a track and an athletic conditioning facility.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson and State Rep. Jim Wayne were among those who spoke at the ground-breaking ceremony and then dug shovels into muddy earth at 900 S. Fourth St.

Archbishop Kurtz also blessed the building site and the Presentation students who attended the ceremony.

Wayne noted that in 1995 “this school was in a state of crisis” and was poised to close its doors. Presentation, he said, “was tested and proven worthy.”

Wayne quoted a statement Pope Benedict XVI made about Catholic education during his visit to the United States last month. He noted that the pope spoke of the sacrifices that have been made to keep Catholic education accessible.

From the school’s earliest years in its formation by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to 1995, when the Presentation family rallied to keep the school afloat, people “made these sacrifices for one reason,” Wayne said, “love for these girls” who attend Presentation.

“This sacrifice continues today,” he said quoting the pope, “ ‘as an outstanding apostolate of hope.’ ”