When a property was offered to Jesse Wig through an off-market deal, he just knew it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
But it wasn’t an ordinary property.
It was an old high school.
He grew up in Homestead, Pennsylvania and as someone who’s seen the area too many times, the sight of an abandoned school wasn’t new to him.
Wig decided to take on the mammoth investment.
But with the sheer size of the school and resources needed to help the renovation project get off the ground, he knew he needed a lot of help/
He got in touch with Adam Colucci, a 35-year-old real estate investor and owner of an audio-video business, and Dan Spanovich, a 42-year-old real estate developer and lawyer.
In May 2019, the trio bought the abandoned school, Bowtie High, for $100,000 and converted it into a 31-unit apartment building.
Their estimations were a bit off.
At first, they estimated that Bowtie High would easily gobble up $2 million dollars worth of work.
However, challenges quickly became apparent when the cost skyrocketed to $3.3 million.
On top of that, the trio had to follow the city’s request to retain the iconic features of the building such as the exterior and the hallways.
Colucci tells CNBC Make It their biggest concern was how much money would be needed to convert the space, which became an even more urgent matter when the partners had a bank pull its financing at the last minute.
Wig, Colucci, and Spanovich found a different bank and secured a $2 million mortgage, which they pay down at around $12,000 a month.
After pooling their own money as well, the project was slowly realized.
The partners converted the old high school’s auditorium into a resident’s lounge. They retained the layout and the wooden flooring. To divide the common space into smaller areas, they reused the shelves they found in the property to serve as thresholds.
They also retained the gymnasium and divided it into two areas. The first area has free weights then the other side was a half-court for basketball.
They also renovated the bleacher areas to become storage spaces.
The old building also came with “historic” perks.
Renovating an old high school meant the project qualified for historic tax credits from the state of Pennsylvania and the federal government.
But it also meant they had to keep the historical significance of the building and its hallways.
Besides the flooring, they also retained the terrazzo tiles of the hallways and retained doors, windows, piping, and even the chalkboards.
Leasing started in October 2021 before renovations were even completed
Leasing at Bowtie High started in October 2021, and within six months, the former high school had reached 100% occupancy.
There are 31 units in the building, with monthly rent for one-bedroom apartments starting at $1,400 and two-bedrooms starting at $1,600.
The one-bedroom apartment is gorgeous.
One thing you’ll quickly appreciate is the 12-foot high ceiling which gives the apartment more room for natural light.
The Vanderbilt, their largest one-bedroom apartment, has an L-shaped kitchen for more space, a bedroom with a walk-in closet and laundry area, and a large living space.
Wig, Colucci, and Spanovich are reinvesting profits into a second abandoned school.
When Colucci learned that the school just right across the street from their property was up for sale, it was already under contract with another investor.
But that deal fell through and in 2020, the partners bought it for $90,000, with a $3.25 million mortgage.
“I knew that we needed to have it in our portfolio mainly because when you look out of the front windows, that’s what you see, so we could control what we see,” Colucci said to CNBC.
Watch this amazing renovation of this old school in the video below!
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