ideas??

"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus) 03/27/2019 at 11:50 • Filed to: None

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so my town recently shut the school in the above image. I believe it is a historic building but anyway the town wants to save it and wants to know what to do with it. The leading plan right now is to turn it into a 55+ apartment/condo building. A lot of the town does not what this. It is right on the e dge of the historic district / town center with the town library, town hall, a church, new elementary school and large playground. What else could the town do with the building other than sell it to a developer for condos/ apts? keep in mind that it must be financially viable. It is a large building so a teen center would be cool, but running something like that would be a financial burden on the town and probably wouldn’ t be an efficient use of the building.

gmctavish needs more space > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:04

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That would make an fantastic museum building, but I don’t imagine that would be financially viable. Also 55 units seems like a lot for that size.

OPPOsaurus WRX > gmctavish needs more space 03/27/2019 at 12:11

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i think they are talking about 20 units or so. it would be a age restricted to 55 year old +

random001 > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:11

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In downtown huntsville, they turned a closed school into a brewery, food, and entertainment center:

https://campus805.com/

kjeep04 > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:12

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Could turn it into a multi use building for the community . There is a building in Philly called Bok which used to be an old school that was converted into a roof top bar/restaurant with incubator spaces for artist and new businesses. It’s also an event space that business and individuals can rent out. https://www.buildingbok.com/ Much of the original building was preserved.

Future next gen S2000 owner > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:13

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Old folks home. Beyond and apt/condo thing I don’t think much else will make a business case. Why is the town against it? Seems like they want to keep it but not pay for it. Is the town not a fan of change?

facw > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:19

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Sorry don’t have much imagination here. I think the problem you get into is that it will need to be heavily renovated for anything at great expense, so there’s no real cheap option. It doesn’t seem like it would make sense to abandon the town hall or library to move into the school, given that they also look to likely be historic buildings. My feeling is that if you want to save the building, the condo route might not be a bad one.

FWIW, in Ithaca where I grew up, the old high school was turned into a mall/apartments (home to the famous Moosewood restaurant):

It’s in a more urban location so the density works better.

In transformations that didn’t work so well a defunct Woolworths was converted in to a new library (nice enough):

T he real issue is that they said they needed to move the library because the old one needed a new roof, but of course the building still needed a new roof to be used for anything else, so has sat decaying for 20 years:

Of course, I guess that does present the option of just leaving the school vacant until a better use can be found (or additional school space is required), which could work, but seems more likely to result in it being torn down at some point.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Future next gen S2000 owner 03/27/2019 at 12:31

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the town is ok with that as they dont want to pay to maintain the building.  the residence dont want residential in this location.

Kiltedpadre > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:31

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There is an old school in my area that was converted into commercial space. The first floor has small shops and a restaurant. The second floor was divided into office space.

OPPOsaurus WRX > random001 03/27/2019 at 12:34

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while I would give this the thumbs up, I canpt imagine town residence being ok with a brewery next to a playground and elementary school when they are already nervous about the people living in the proposed condos kidnapping all the elementary school kids.

functionoverfashion > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:35

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Something like this: https://thecmaninn.com/

Same people who built the new rest areas on 93 near Hooksett in NH. You’d think that’s not an exciting kind of thing to renovate, but if you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.

They renovated old buildings to leave some original features, making them into inn / restaurant / event space / spa / etc all in one place. Really popular for weddings, etc. and the restaurant brings in locals. 

Future next gen S2000 owner > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:39

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I suppose I should clarify, by town not wanting it, I meant the residents. When don’t the residents want more people? Seems like a good place for a family to be.

thejustache > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:39

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In my town a developer bought the old school building and turned it into rentable office space. We are a small fairly rural town, so that’s not something I would have totally imagined myself. I also don’t know how it’s doing financially, but I know there are a few lawyers and professionals that have had offices there for the last few years, and a friend of mine works remote for a software company from an office he rents there. It’s pretty nice inside so for the right price I can see it being a nicer option then buying/maintaining a whole building to operate out of. If there was some sort of central lounge area with a coffee shop/bar that might be even cooler? Your mileage may vary

ranwhenparked > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:41

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Apartments would be the most straightforward conversion, there’s a couple of older school buildings around me that have had that done. Preserves the facade perfectly, and if there’s any architecturally significant interiors (often not), you can keep those too, since it’s usually just the entrance lobby and maybe an auditorium.

Maybe offices, that could work. But, that can be riskier financially. 

OPPOsaurus WRX > functionoverfashion 03/27/2019 at 12:43

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i think i’ve actually been to that rest area, it looks like a village on the inside.

random001 > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 12:43

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Well, just go the restaurant/entertainment center, skip the brewery

punkgoose17 > thejustache 03/27/2019 at 13:20

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This sounds like a good idea. Maybe they should do office space on the upper floors and retail on the 1st floor.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > functionoverfashion 03/27/2019 at 13:29

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This is exactly what I was going to say. I stayed at one in PDX last Dec and it was pretty awesome.

Chariotoflove > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 13:42

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There is an old and historic city school building near my work that they haver been trying to figure out what to do with for years.  I hope they figure it out, but I’m glad they at least aren’t allowing it to crumble and become an eye sore.

Tristan > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 14:04

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https://www.mcmenamins.com/kennedy-school

Spanfeller is a twat > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 14:18

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Why are the residents against the city selling the building to make apartments?

Full disclosure: I work for a developer, so I have a soft-spot for developing.

I think that it’s the perfect place for a development; it’s near a school, which is the prime concern for most people, since it shares the road with the school, by making a controlled intersection there you could manage traffic AND also make the school run safer for the kids. This without mentioning that the 55-190 kids who might possibly live in the development wouldn’t need a school bus service.

I’m not sure the building needs many modifications to make it a good complex.

If ya’ll are worried about gentrification, the city government could have more provisions to a possible sale deal to avoid hiking (or crashing) realestate prices. These could be minimum apartment size or, maximum sale price per m^2.

I’m already thinking that roof area could be turned into a super-nice loft.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > punkgoose17 03/27/2019 at 14:22

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I wonder if it could be done as half condos, and half offices.

functionoverfashion > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 14:36

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It’s memorable, yeah. Diner, convenience store - but made up like a “country store,” coffee/deli/bakery kind of thing, liquor store (because NH), and a big courtyard with tables. Also a piano that you can play if you ask for a key to have it unlocked. Really well done, IMO. 

OPPOsaurus WRX > Spanfeller is a twat 03/27/2019 at 14:49

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it would be a 55+ age development so minimal kids and only about 20 units. The main arguments are that the traffic in this area is already a nightmare (i pass through here every day, its not bad) the town already has water sup ply / quality issues and adding that many units would only make it worse. I think they are looking for something else other than residential.

there are a couple other towns that have let developers go wi ld and its hurt the town and they do not want to follow that path.

Spanfeller is a twat > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 14:58

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Oh it’s age-discriminatory... I missread... sorry!

I mean, there are solutions to the water problems, the extra tax income from those units could help build better infrastructure (plus, adding * to the deal with the developer could also mean making the building more energy efficient)

Given how schools are built, I’m fearful that any remodeling more intense than making a residential/office building is going to be prohibitively expensive. Making a youth center seems to be the best solution imho, but as you say, it would also make it very expensive for the city government.

I feel that the proximity to the school is a double edged sword in this particular case.

Why was the school expanded, is it K-12?

OPPOsaurus WRX > Spanfeller is a twat 03/27/2019 at 15:10

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the school that we are talking about was closed and that one next to it was expanded so that all the elementary school kids could be in one building. the older building was in need of a lot of work to be suitable for the kids and put all the elementary school resources in one building.

Under_Score > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 15:21

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Around me, the public schools are so overpopulated that they’re building 55+ communities on all the spare land. It’s basically a joke now. Clear land? Retirement community! 

Spanfeller is a twat > OPPOsaurus WRX 03/27/2019 at 15:28

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Maybe opening a Kinder could work... but if it needed worked for elementary school children then I cannot imagine how much more work would need to be made for toddlers