It would be hard to argue that the place a person lives in – a house, a district, a city – shapes that person’s life. However, sometimes while we are planning cities and building houses, we overlook the huge potential of the existing things and concentrate instead on creating something “completely new”. Simply put, we are overlooking the complexity of things that actually make them interesting and engaging. This might have a damaging effect on such structures as cities and houses, the value of which often relies heavily on them being embedded in their history. Old buildings often have a potential for transformation and this man realized it when he reconstructed an abandoned school into this luxury residential house.

Three men transformed an abandoned school building into a 31-apartment luxury residential house

Image credits: @jessewig

The 34-year-old real estate agent was not sure what he would make out of the building when he bought it for $100k in 2019

Taking both – the history of the building and its potential – into consideration opens the possibility to think about the transformation of a building. Which, in and of itself, is exciting enough, not to mention the additional benefits that might come with it.

This approach was taken by Jesse Wig, a 34-year-old real estate agent who bought a 50,000-square-foot abandoned school building in 2019. Back then, he paid only $100,000 for it and he was not sure what he would do with it.

Together with Adam Colucci, a 35-year-old real estate investor, they discussed various ideas – a co-working space, wedding venue, and beer garden, while they finally settled on a residential building.

After considering various ideas, the two men came to the agreement to turn the building into a residential house

Image credits: @jessewig

The men emphasized that they preserved some of the school’s elements to keep the building’s historical significance

Image credits: @jessewig

Image credits: @jessewig

At this point, Dan Spanovich, a 41-year-old developer and multifamily property manager, joined the project. During the transformation process, classrooms were turned into contemporary, open-concept apartments. The auditorium was made into a community space, and there is a gym with a half-basketball court, weights, and indoor cycling bikes in the building.

The three men working on the project emphasized that beyond making it a comfortable living space, it was important for them to keep the building’s historical significance. For that purpose, they worked closely with National Park Services and preserved some of the school’s elements. “We went out of our way to ensure the school kept its historical significance,” Colluci shared.

Reconstruction of the building started at the beginning of 2020 and wrapped up in October 2021. It contains 31 apartments in total – 27 one-bedroom and 4 two-bedroom apartments. 

The leasing started just after the reconstruction was finished and was fully occupied in just six months. The rent amounted to $1,400 a month for 1-bedroom units and up to $1,650 for 2-bedroom units.

After the reconstruction, the building contains 31 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments

Image credits: bowtiehigh

The auditorium was made into a community space and there is a half-basketball court, weights, and indoor cycling bikes in the building

Image credits: @jessewig

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Image credits: bowtiehigh

In his article “Stop demolishing useful buildings,” Rafael Gomez-Moriana raises the question of why demolishing old buildings and replacing them with new ones still is widely seen as a sign of “progress” while the transformation of an existing structure is valued less.

Moriana gives several reasons advocating for the contrary. According to him, demolishing perfectly sound, useful structures harms both the environment as well as our collective memory. Taking the climate change problem into consideration, the common approach should shift to one, that maintains and adapts most of the existing buildings, not only these buildings that are listed as historical heritage, instead of demolishing them.

However, Moriana notices that the ecological aspect is just one side of the coin, as replacement of the buildings with new ones “often leads to a much more sterile and soulless environment, especially when this is done on a massive scale.”

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Transformation of the building often helps to avoid harming both the environment as well as our collective memory

Image credits: bowtiehigh

Some former school graduates commented online that seeing the transformation felt surreal but wonderful

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