Business Savvy Friends Team Up to Buy Abandoned School, Turn it Into 31-Unit Magnificent Rental

• When a Pennsylvania man ran into an old abandoned school that was up for sale, the low price tag caught his attention
• He approached two of his friends with whom he shared the idea and they together decided to band to together and purchase the property
• After several months of renovation, what stood in place of the dilapidated structure was a magnificent rental apartment that was fully leased out within six months

A group of three friends from Pennsylvania have wowed social media users after teaming up to buy an abandoned high school and turning it into a 31-unit apartment complex.

The three, 34-year-old Jesse Wig, 35-year-old Adam Colucci, and Dan Spanovich, 41, bought the facility for just R16.9 million in 2019.

School was selling for cheap

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According to the New York Post, Jesse, a real estate agent himself, first saw the opportunity when the school was listed for sale.

He brought investor Adam on board who considered several ways of turning it into an investment, among them a wedding venue, a beer garden, or a space for rented office space.

The duo then sought the help of Dan who is a developer and multifamily property manager to turn the rundown structure into a magnificent residential building with dreamy amenities.

“After two years of spinning our wheels, all the professionals told us that the end of the road is going to be residential,” Adam disclosed.

Not easy to convert an old building into a good-looking apartment

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The trio revealed that it was not easy to convert such an old building into anything meaningful, especially since it had been abandoned for years.

What took most of their time was laying out the floor plan in a bid to convert one-time classrooms to apartments and the school’s auditorium into a shared lounge space.

Sitting on 50,000 square feet, the partners hoped to squeeze 60 apartments, but that only left them with 25,000 square feet of leasable square footage.

The hallways, staircases, gym and auditorium took up much of the space, but they were able to churn out something that they believed would "generate enough return to satisfy everybody".

Among the amenities, the building includes 27 one-bedroom homes and four two-bedroom units each with a washer and dryer, a state-of-the-art full gym, and a half basketball court.

Apartment fully leased in 6 months

Six months after the apartment building was opened for public use, it was fully leased with all the profits split evenly among the three partners.

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With the first investment achieving massive success, the trio has since gone ahead to purchase two more abandoned schools.

They disclosed that their secret is going for the rundown buildings as those that are in good condition have more competition and are priced higher.

The trio is planning to turn the second school into 33 residential units with mostly one-bedroom and studio apartments.

Man turns old house into beautiful mansion

In an almost similar story, a creative man renovated his old house which looked dirty and weak and turned it into a mansion that is a sight to behold.

A video showing the old house and the renovated one caught the attention of Instagram users who viewed it many times.

The renovated structure currently looks very new and completely transformed into the types of buildings found in posh neighbourhoods.

Source: TUKO.co.ke