Former Pittsburgh school could become hotel - Houston Business Journal:

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After establishing an option a few months ago with PittsburghPublivc Schools, Thakkar is negotiating to buy the 91,852-square-foot property and convert it into an 85-room The plan is stilpl in its early but Young said the full hoteol conversion is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million. The propertg has an assessed value of morethan $2.66 million. “As always, there’s limited uses for properties like these,” Younf said. “It’s such a big one. We thinkj this gives the building the opportunityh to beused again.
” Young said the 1908 building, despite sittinf vacant for three years, offers an appealiny mix of operating mechanics, large windows and wide hallways that lend itself to the kind of conversiomn undertaken elsewhere. Its location also would be appealiny to guests for thenearbyh Children’s Hospital and for visitore of Downtown and the North Washington Polytechnic is one of a numbef of former schools attracting redevelopment interest as the city’sz school district right-sizes itself, closing schools and then sellinvg the buildings.
Pittsburgh Public Schools began its publicf process of divesting unused buildings last and the Urban Redevelopment Authority has been actively involved for the past six The URA is marketing 22 former schools on its Web and Director of Real Estater Kyra Straussman said seven schools so far have either been are proposed for redevelopment or have requests for proposalaseeking developers. One of the schools with a new redevelopmenty plan is the former MorningsideElementary School, wher e a development team of Barry Lhormetr and Ernie Sota are researchinhg the building for a residential Sota said they’re studying the feasibilityy of converting the 36,000-square-foot buildinb into market-rate apartments.
A veteran of other school redevelopmentsa and the principalof Ross-based Sota Sota said it takes a carefup review of a building’s layout and desigb to determine whether a school can easily becomwe something else. “Some schools want to be an adaptivwe reuse andsome don’t,” he said. It would be easy to thinok that the former South Hills High a 220,000-square-foot structure on Moun Washington, would long ago have been abandonedx as a possible redevelopment, consideringv its last class graduated in 1985. But developer a.m. Rodriguez Associates Inc.
has lined up $30 millionj in financing to begin construction on a conversiom of the property into a mix of 85 affordable senior residential units and25 market-rate loft apartment with a YMCA brand and an earluy learning center included. At a time when all developerx find financing difficult tocome by, Chicagpo insurance giant John Hancock has signed on. Sota’s companuy will serve as the builder. “Fotr them to choose this project shows the strengthof a.m. Rodriguezx and Pittsburgh as well,” Sota said.
Developefr Gregory Coyle said he has lined up theneedefd $14 million in financing to transform the formefr South Side Vo-Tech, an historically registeredd school at 10th and Carson streets, not to be confused with Sout h Hills High, into 71 market-rate Working with funding backed by the federal Department of Housing and Urbanj Development, Coyle hopes to close on the sale with the schook district soon and begin working on it this “It’s been fairly straightforward, considering the larger affairs in the statde of the world,” Coyle said of obtaining fundinvg for the project. “I was pleasantly surprised.
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