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Over the past few years, the School District of Philadelphia has shuttered a large number of school buildings leaving empty and often crumbling buildings vacant. But this week started a long series of open houses that allows developers, educators and even curious neighbors the chance to investigate the state of their interiors. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) is facilitating both the open houses and the sale of 20 properties with three in South Philadelphia: Edward Bok, 1901 S. Ninth St., Abigail Vare, 1619 E. Moyamensing Ave., and Walter Smith, 1300 S. 19th St., which all closed in June. All told, the asking prices for the 20 schools adds up to $54.9 million, money that the district could be putting to good use in the near future.
The tours started Monday morning with the biggest and most expensive of the bunch, William Penn at 1301 N. Broad St. At 554,000 square feet with an asking price of $15 million, it bests the second and third most expensive (Old Samuel Fels in Oxford Circle and M. Hall Stanton in Kensington) by more than $10 million and the third largest, East Passyunk Crossing’s Bok, by 200,000 square feet.
Smith and Vare were available to explore this week, and SPR toured the two facilities to get a sense of what may come of them. Bok’s open house will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. May 29.
Dr. James Moylan, the president of the Pennsport Civic Association and resident of the 100 block of Federal Street, is pretty simply hoping that whoever wins a bid for Vare wants to be a part of the community and not simply exist within it.
“We’ve had multiple discussions about it and at this point there’s really nothing to talk about until there’s an active bid. When there’s an active bid, we’ll request a sit-down with a bid winner,” he explained.
He added that with every project, small or large, the motto has been “I don’t want you IN our community, I want you to be a PART of our community – whatever’s more likely to get it done, that’s the one we’ll favor.”
For most of these buildings, the two main questions are who will buy it and what will they do with it? And the primary answer is that schools, private or charter, are interested in returning these education centers to form, and that developers see these structures as primed for apartments and condos. Mixed use is also a possibility, but with that comes zoning variances and concerns from nearby residents.
Jessica Calter, PIDC’s marketing and communications lead, is confident that her employer will make sure that communities are satisfied with bid awards.
“The PIDC is very interested in making sure that the proposed use of the space is in fitting with what’s happening in the neighborhood and what community interest is,” she said. “Most communities are interested in seeing something happen to these properties, and that’ll be a step in the right direction.”
Some of the quickest turnarounds could see private and charter schools moving into vacated buildings by the end of the summer.
Jason Friedland, a partner at Iron Stone, a development firm that specializes in renovating and repositioning old buildings, toured Smith on Monday for a few reasons; one being that a private school client is looking to expand.
“Old schools make great new schools,” he put it plainly. “I was contacted by a private school looking to expand, and the easiest thing to do is reuse it as a new school – it’s extremely cost-effective. The opportunity for them to purchase an existing school with a gymnasium and nice classrooms and corridors and a common and outdoor space is unique, so the opportunity is there.”
One such educator touring Smith was Ross Hatton, Head of School for the Philadelphia Classical School, 1701 Washington Ave. The Passyunk Square resident leads a burgeoning new private school that is currently K-2 but growing to K-3 next year with about 30 students.
“We have some people interested in the school who are willing to help us purchase,” he said. “Having temporary space limits the kind of people who might entertain [enrolling] – we don’t want to move every year.”
However, the school is partly desirable because of its proximity to their current location. Not for its size.
“Seeing it in person, it’s just massive. It’s really not going to be a good fit unless it ends up going for a lot less than asking price,” Hatton said.
At 64,449 square feet with an asking price of $3 million, he was rightly skeptical of the fit.
Smith was toured by way of flashlights and cell phone flashes with no lights turned on, chalk writing still on chalkboards and miscellaneous posters about behavior and school pride still hung on walls. Fellow property investigators were overheard talking about one and two-bedroom apartments, a process South Philadelphians have seen before.
Alterra, a group that maintains the Wharton Lofts, 1148 Wharton St., the former address of the 2012-shuttered Annunciation B.V.M., brought up another holding, a former district administration building at 427 Monroe St.
Friedland mentioned Iron Stone’s holding, The Landreth School Apartments, 1201 S. 23rd St., as a great way for seniors to find eligible housing and stay in their neighborhoods as South Philly gentrifies.
“I would imagine a lot of the neighbors want to stay in the neighborhood and can’t afford to stay,” he said of the distinct option for developers to make a percentage of the developed housing more affordable. “They’d love to be able to move to a building, but there just aren’t that many.”
He also outlined the ways in which demolition and starting from scratch don’t really make sense. Estimated at $8 per foot and using Bok’s 338,000 square footage as an example, it would cost nearly $2.7 million just to take it to the ground. And then one has to build.
“Smith could play out nicely for apartments but at the end of the day, it’s about how much someone will pay to buy it,” Friedland explained.
As is often the case with these negotiations, developers will want the district to include zoning variances in the purchase of the buildings.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a developer who wouldn’t want a zoning contingency as part of their offer,” Friedland detailed. “If I’m going to pay that money, I want to be able to build what I want there.”
Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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