A new chapter has begun for the long-vacant Edison School on Milwaukee's north side.
Oregon, Wisconsin-based
Gorman & Co. is putting the finishing touches on a redevelopment of the school, located at 5372 N. 37th St., that's converted the 1925 building into 63 affordable housing units for seniors.
"Many seniors in the neighborhood are selling their homes at kind of elevated prices — good for them, bad for the buyer — and they want an affordable home without all the maintenance and they want to stay in the neighborhood," said
Ted Matkom, Wisconsin market president for Gorman.
The converted school's units include a mix of one- and two-bedroom units that are set aside for people 55 years old and up. Rents are limited to 30%, 50% and 60% of that person's income.
Milwaukee is dotted with empty public school buildings, which Gorman has made a business of converting into affordable housing. The company's previous projects include Jackie Robinson School, Fifth Street School and the McKinley School, which
opened last summer.
The $28 million project at Edison School was financed using a variety of public financing options. The city backed the development with a $1.1 million environmental cleanup loan, a $965,000 grant from its Housing Trust Fund, a grant of $750,000 from the city’s allocation of HOME affordable housing funds and $875,000 from a tax incremental financing district.
The project also received financing from the state including low-income housing tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and historic preservation tax credits.
In order to be eligible for historic preservation tax credits, many of the building's original characteristics were preserved including the building's original terrazzo floors, lockers, trophy cases, chalkboards and storage compartments from the previous classrooms.
In negotiations for the historic tax credits, the developers were given the freedom to rehab the classrooms into housing units, but were required to keep the core of the building, including the gymnasium and auditorium intact. Considering budget constraints and the lack of windows, Gorman mothballed these spaces, preserving them but not opening them to resident use.
[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="591177,591173,591172,591174,591175,591171,591170"]
"The one thing about historic redevelopment in schools is that (the hallways) can kind of look like a 1960s mental institution," Matkom joked of the building.
To make the hallways feel little bit more homey, Gorman is working with
La Familia de Arte, a nonprofit based on Milwaukee's southside that will provide pottery and other art to decorate the halls. La Familia also provided art for Gorman's McKinley School project.
Residents will start moving in on Saturday.
“Twenty-five to 30% of the people that come in here are seniors that went to school here,” said Matkom. “It’s a huge neighborhood for people to sell their homes to stay in the neighborhood.”
In addition to rehabbing the former school building, Gorman made use of the property's large parking lot to create more housing. The south end of the property, fronting Rohr Avenue, was used to build 12 new townhomes.
"These old Milwaukee Public Schools buildings take an entire city block, so we got a lot of asphalt," Matkom said.
The townhomes, which all have three bedrooms, are also designated as affordable, but are targeted toward families— not just seniors. All of the townhomes have been leased already, according to Matkom.
"We did a lot of work with the former and current aldermen to make sure the community was on board with us," Matkom said. "The nice thing about historic development is that you're not building a new four-story building that somebody can't like. This has been here since 1925, so if you just make it look nice, it's going to shine, and I think it does."
[caption id="attachment_591178" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
The townhomes along Rohr Avenue.[/caption]
