News
SCHOOLHOUSE BLOCK
August 4, 2011
| Put down your backpacks and erasable pens. Yesterday, Focus Development chief Shaffin Jetha told us the city entitlement process is complete for his conversion of the old Highlandtown Middle School into 131 apartment units. |
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| ?Right now, we're moving forward on getting final approvals from the Maryland Historical Trust and the National Park Service,? he says, ?as well as finalizing our contract with Kinsley Construction.? The project (tentatively titled the Patterson) will likely receive bank or HUD financing. Shaffin's take on the neighborhood: It's ?rapidly transitioning,? much like U Street in DC five years ago. ?This is an up-and-coming urban area but pretty much all the housing options are rowhomes,? he says. That means would-be residents often have difficulty finding a place without buying, which isn't at the top of most folks' to-do lists. (It usually sits right above root canal.) ?These apartments are going to be priced in the $1,200 range for 1BRs and the $1,500 range for 2BRs,? Shaffin says. ?We want to make sure they're accessible to workers across most income brackets.? |
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| The school, built in 1934, is ?a natural? for conversion to apartment units, he says. Each unit will be a former classroom, and the development's clubhouse is the school's old auditorium (relive your experience playing John Proctor in The Crucible during apartment hunting). Shaffin's also demolishing several interior floors to make way for a 144-space parking garage, which he says no other project in the neighborhood has. |
