Some Millennials in Pennsylvania showed great creativity in the Real Estate market when they acquired an abandoned high school and turned it into an apartment building. With the market being in it’s current state some millennials came together to turn an abandoned high school in to a 31-unit apartment building.
After acquiring the 50,000 square foot property in 2019 for $100,000 the new owners had been weighing all their options for what the property could potentially be from a wedding venue to a beer garden. It wasn’t until professionals recommended they go a residential route. Initially they were hoping to turn it into a 60-unit apartment building but had challenges due to the age of the building but also the nature of it being a high school originally like the large hallways & staircases that they ended up with 25,000 square feet of leasable space.
The group worked closely with their cities park services throughout the renovation process to ensure they kept the high schools historical significance as the outside of the school has very charming stone and brick work. Construction started on the building in the beginning of 2020 and finished in October of 2021 with leases starting in October of that year and hit 100% occupancy just six months later.
The finished apartment building consists of 27 one-bedroom apartments and 4 two-bedrooms apartments, with modern updates in-unit washer & dryers, turned the auditorium into a communal space to enjoy, added a full gym with a half basketball court and weights and installed solar panels to the roof to help with their environmental footprint.
This group has already acquired their next project with a school across the street and they are hoping to turn this second property into 33 residential units and hope that in the future the residents of both buildings are able to use the amenities that the different buildings offer. Their biggest takeaway from these projects is how it has improved their community.
We would love to see some of this creativity here in Canada as millennials are facing issues surrounding the housing shortage everyday, and something like this to revitalize and keep historic buildings could potentially be a great project. Anyone know of any abandoned schools?
For more info on this story click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/16/take-a-look-inside-abandoned-high-school-apartment-building.html
Renovations can be tough but we work with a bunch of skilled tradesman find out more here: https://doorbell.ca/services/
