In 2019, Jesse Wig, 35, was approached with an off-market deal to buy an old high school in Homestead, Pennsylvania, located about seven miles away from Pittsburgh. The building had been abandoned for almost 10 years.
Wig, a real estate agent and investor, saw the potential in the space, but knew he couldn’t take on the project alone.
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. The renovation started in early 2020 and took about 18 months to complete.
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 $12,129/month.
The partners also put in $1.3 million of their own money.
In total, renovating the old school cost $3.3 million, an amount that the partners are still shocked by.
“I’m not sure we would have done the renovation in the beginning if we would have known what it was going to take,” Spanovich said.
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.
Wig, Colucci, and Spanovich took it a step further by reusing some of the original materials found in the school, like an old bookshelf and the original hardwood floors from the former auditorium.
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…
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