Back-to-school season is taking on new meaning in St. Louis. Old schoolhouses are being converted into living spaces, and the unique scholastic shells make for distinctive apartments.
“We’ve been repurposing buildings for the last five or six years,” says Brian Minges, owner and president of Advantes Group. “St. Louis City public schools are kind of the jewel that the neighborhoods grew around back in the day.”
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Advantes Group is converting the Sherman School on Flad Avenue in Shaw into 38 loft-style apartments, and has already rented a good portion—24 of 36—of the apartments in Lafayette Lofts at 815 Ann Street in Soulard, the previous Lafayette School. The Post-Dispatch reports that St. Pius V School at 3530 Utah Street is on its way to being converted to 25 apartments by developers Kyle Miller and Chris Hulse.
“Schools just have a very nice layout with regard to reconverting to apartments,” Minges says. “The classrooms lay out very well—they are open, high ceilings, 900 square feet. Right in the wheelhouse for the individual just coming out of college, just starting a career.”
This “before” gallery shows the architectural features that Minges began with at 815 Ann Street.
Even the St. Louis Public Schools are getting in on the act, turning former schools into affordable housing intended for teachers. Developers Donna and Howard Smith and Kathy and Richard Sorkinhe are working with SLPS to convert Wilkinson School on Arsenal Street. According to Walker Gaffney, the Director of Real Estate for the St. Louis Board of Education, that project is still in the preliminary stages, with many months to go before units are ready for rental.
A peek at Minges’ Lafayette Lofts, though, illuminates how much cooler a classroom can be as a home, if you don’t have to suffer through algebra.
“Basically, the perimeter shell of each classroom sort of serves as the footprint,” says Minges. “We lay in our interior walls based on if it’s one or two bedrooms.”
Equipping former classrooms with full apartment plumbing presents some challenges, but with twelve-and-a-half-foot ceilings, Minges says plenty can be left exposed.
“We leave all the internal walls at nine feet so you have the transoms shooting light throughout the unit,” he says.
And if you’re not into texting your roommate that you need more coffee, never fear. Many of the units have retained their chalkboards.
