Owner: School House Lofts Condo Association | Location: Worcester, MA
Completion Date: 2008
Adaptive Reuse Property Management
Adaptive reuse - a process of retrofitting old buildings for new purpose, allows structures to retain their historic integrity, while meeting the needs of modern occupants. In the pursuit of sustainable development, communities have much to gain from adapting and reusing buildings.
Old schools have great layouts for converting into multifamily living. A main entrance, large open hallways, multiple classrooms, office space, each providing a unique layout - giving the spaces historic charm.
At SCI, we have multiple schools in our portfolio that have been converted to multifamily living. In Worcester, MA our property management team manages the School House Lofts Condos.
In 2015, SCI began managing the School House Lofts as its very first property management client. In the five plus years since, the School House Lofts has thrived with property values soaring and condominium units flying off the market.
At the end of April 2008, some 4,000 renters in the city received postcards depicting a classroom blackboard with the phrase, “I will never rent again,” repeated line after line, as in an antiquated schoolhouse form of discipline.
Those cards kicked off the initial marketing for the School House Lofts, a condominium project that renovated the former Adams Street School into 28 units. Paul J. Scapicchio, one of three partners in LMM Realty LLC, developer of School House Lofts, hoped the marketing, location and product would pay off.
With the housing market deep into a slump and competition from other condominium projects coming on line or under construction in the city in 2008, there was worry that the project would not be lucrative.
Condominium developers renovated the Adams Street School into lofts, looking to attract young professionals and empty-nesters. Located right off Shrewsbury Street known as Worcester’s “restaurant row” and combined with the charm and character of exposed wood and brick, large windows and competitive prices, there was hope that these would be a desirable place to live. A wish that came to fruition.
SCI is grateful for the opportunity to use its green building principles to help inform decisions on the way residents live and enjoy an adaptive reuse project such as the School House Lofts.