Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Commonwealth Development Corp. constructed an eight-unit cottage-style building on the former Lincoln School property. All units are occupied.
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt The gymnasium in the former Lincoln School building is being used as community space for parties and gatherings following a restoration project that converted the building into 16 apartment units. Some of the school’s banners adorn the gymnasium’s walls.
Tenants are settling in at the former Lincoln School building in Shawano after months of restoration and construction work.
Jason Leffel, vice president of operations for Commonwealth Management Corp., said this week 12 of 16 units at Historic Lincoln School Apartments, 237 S. Sawyer St., and all eight townhome units constructed on the property are occupied.
“We have a seen a real high demand for them, primarily because of the historical value,” Leffel said.
The restoration project of the former school, named to state and federal historic registers, began in the spring and was completed in September.
Dylan and Bethany Ponchaud and their two children, Elias and Dylan, moved into one of the cottage homes. They chose the location to be closer to family.
“We moved in about three weeks ago. It was the earliest we could move in,” Ponchaud said. “We were the second group of people.”
The 31,826-square-foot Lincoln School was built in 1924. It was retired in 2010 after Hillcrest Primary School was completed and students were moved there and to the remodeled Olga Brener Intermediate School.
Shawano school officials accepted an offer in June 2012 to sell the building. After a special annual meeting to get voter approval, the School Board voted unanimously to sell the property to Commonwealth Development Corp., of Fond du Lac, for $110,000.
Commonwealth Development, which specializes in housing projects, has done similar renovation projects — including an elementary school in Rhinelander now called the Historic West Elementary Apartments and a maternity ward in Milwaukee that was turned into a 51-unit apartment complex.
The sale was completed in December 2013, giving Commonwealth full ownership of the building.
Commonwealth announced plans to construct 16 apartments in the building, plus an additional eight cottage units — two- to three-bedroom, low-income homes — on the property.
Leffel said the two-bedroom units are approximately 1,000 to 1,300 square feet, and the three-bedroom units are between 1,200 and 1,600 square feet.
The total cost of the project for both the cottage homes and restoration of Lincoln School was $5.2 million.
“On the inside of the school we were able to restore the floors,” Leffel said. “With the conversion, we had to rebuild walls. All windows have been restored to their original condition.”
The project will receive $2.86 million over the next 10 years through a Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority program designed to increase affordable housing statewide.
Rents are based on income.
Leffel said he expects to see Lincoln School fully occupied by the end of the month.