In a week, nearly 1,000 students will be walking through the doors of Roxbury Prep, a new charter school that looks to be a catalyst for change in a neighborhood marred by the Mass and Cass opioid-addled wasteland.

The 83,000 square-foot building is set to welcome 950 middle- and high school students on the first day of classes, Aug. 25, transforming a dumping ground into a campus bursting with new life in the geographic heart of Boston.

Demand for the grades 6-12 school, which typically sees over 90% of its graduates enroll in college, has only grown with the new facility, evidenced by a waitlist for admission, according to Principal Chelsea McWilliams.

Leaders had anticipated enrolling upwards of 800 students in the first year. The enrollment of 950, split between 680 high schoolers and 270 middle schoolers, is exceeding those initial goals. The school will bring together students and staff from Roxbury Prep’s Mission Hill, Hyde Park and Nubian Square campuses.

McWilliams is pointing to a palpable excitement for the new space that features a full regulation-size gymnasium, performing arts spaces and “state-of-the-art” science labs.

“The offerings deepen, and the opportunities deepen,” the principal told the Herald last week.

As dangerous and unsanitary conditions continue to prove troublesome at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, community leaders assert that Roxbury Prep could help address the blight.

The school is located in Newmarket, a mostly industrial area that overlaps Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston and the South End and is grappling with the relentless spillover of open-air drug use, violence, and public sex, from Mass and Cass.

The environment is not deterring confidence for Roxbury Prep to succeed as it opens and for its long-term future. McWilliams touted how the Mason, a full-inclusion elementary school, has long served the community.

“We, of course, take the safety of our scholars very seriously,” the principal said, “but we are mostly just excited to be here. We are not new to being in communities that are up and coming.”

“Our mission is to serve the underserved,” she added.

School leaders have also said that when the public charter network has opened buildings across the city since its founding in 1999, the crime rate tends to drop as a result in the respective neighborhood.

Sue Sullivan, president of the Newmarket Business Improvement District, watched the construction of the new $85 million school from the “ground up,” as her office is located across the street.

Sullivan said that Roxbury Prep will be an “amazing addition to our neighborhood,” while also highlighting the ongoing multimillion-dollar renovation of Clifford Playground, an 8-acre city-owned park regularly festered with needles, human feces and other trash.

“We look at it as a changing point for the neighborhood,” Sullivan said in a June YouTube video touting the school. “We have a lot of residents, we have a lot of industrial uses, and we have this amazing park that is going to be even more amazing.”

“Now, you’ve got 800-plus students coming here every single day,” she added, “talk about vibrancy and bringing more excitement to the neighborhood.”

The Boston Planning & Development Agency approved the new Roxbury Prep in September 2022, and more recently, has given the green light to life science and mixed-use projects that look to further flip the narrative in Newmarket.

Jon Fish, chairman and CEO of Suffolk, called it an honor to partner with Roxbury Prep to “deliver a state-of-the-art learning environment in the heart of Boston’s Newmarket district.”

Suffolk constructed the four-story school, and Fish said his company has a “long-term commitment to investing in this community,” pointing to an expansion of its headquarters across the street from Roxbury Prep.

“This school will be a powerful engine for opportunity, education and hope for our young people and the next generation of leaders,” Fish said in a statement shared with the Herald.

“We believe this Roxbury Prep project will spark even more investment,” he added, “forge stronger community bonds, and help build a brighter future for students and their families.”

Roxbury Prep staff prepare for incoming students at the new school this past week. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)