Faithful readers......................

................may remember that we acquired an old school building in 2012 (has it really been that long?).   It took a while to get our minds wrapped around the project, but we finally did. 

As a quick recap:  It is a 30,000 square foot, three story building, constructed in 1939.  It was built on the site of the original 1880's Newark High School (actually sharing a bit of the original foundation).  Attached to, but not part of, the building is a 20,000 square foot gymnasium that could have been used as a set for the movie Hoosiers. The Newark Board of Education made good use of the buildings until 2012, when they considered demolishing them.  Wiser heads prevailed, and the buildings were auctioned.  We bought them.  A few years later we sold the gym to the Granville Christian Academy.  They were desperate for gym space and the building needed improvements that we were ill-equipped to make.  They have truly been faithful stewards of the old gym.  Qualifies as a win-win. 
      The decision to convert the school building to an apartment complex was made early on, but figuring out how to get it done took like forever.  We applied twice for State Historic Tax Credits, and were turned down both times.  Old buildings are expensive to fix.  The tax credits go a long way toward making such a project economically viable.  Several months after the second rejection, we received encouragement from both the City of Newark and the State to apply yet again.   The third time was the charm. 
     We actually started work in earnest last fall.   The plan is to have nice folks move into the apartments early this summer.   Future posts will contain progress photos.   Stay tuned.