ST. LOUIS — A $17 million plan to convert the former Fanning Middle School building in south St. Louis to apartments was advanced by a city board Wednesday despite opposition from nearby residents.
Screaming Eagle Development, led by principal Matt Masiel, has the property, at 3417 Grace Ave. in Tower Grove South, under contract. The developer wants to convert the former school to 62 apartments, equally divided between market-rate rents and affordable housing rates.
The St. Louis Board of Adjustment on Wednesday approved the apartment plan 4-1, after hearing from some neighbors who supported the project, and from more neighbors who opposed the development citing density concerns.
The St. Louis Public Schools board voted in January 2021 to close the school at the end of that school year, along with six other city schools, due to lower student enrollment.
If all goes according to plan, Screaming Eagle could close on the project and start construction in the first quarter of 2023, Masiel said. Construction would take 10 months to a year.
Built in 1906, Fanning is a brick building with hardwood floors throughout and stained glass that is original to the building, the developer said. Screaming Eagle previously converted two other historic schools to apartments – SLPS' Lyon School in the Patch neighborhood and Hawthorne Elementary in University City – and Fanning is in better shape than either of those schools, which had sat vacant for a decade before redevelopment, Masiel told the Business Journal. Both of those prior school redevelopments are 100% leased, he said.
“The building is 115 years old, and it’s still a beautiful building on the inside,” Masiel said of Fanning. “We thought this was a good opportunity to add another project to our portfolio while helping out the neighborhood as well.”
Of the 62 units to be developed at the Fanning property, 27 would be two-bedroom apartments and 35 would be one-bedroom apartments, according to city filings.
Read more of the story on the St. Louis Business Journal website.
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