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The development of Washington School Apartments revitalized a nearly century-old building.

The Washington School was built in 1901--the second school building in Walla Walla, Washington. The brick and sandstone building remained structurally sound, but by the early 1980s was no longer needed as a neighborhood school. The building was donated to the Walla Walla Housing Authority (WWHA) in 1990.

At about the same time, the rental housing market in the Walla Walla area became very tight, with a vacancy rate of between 1 and 5 percent through the early 1990s. The area's elderly population was particularly affected by this situation. Walla Walla has a relatively high proportion of elderly residents, as it is the region's largest city and has a variety of services, including medical care, attractive to seniors.

No new units had been built for this population since the early 1970s. In response to these conditions, the WWHA began to investigate the possibility of converting the Washington School to affordable housing for low-income elderly persons. After extensive consultations with residents of the surrounding neighborhood and other seniors in the community, it was determined that such housing would be a good use of the building. The authority then assembled a team of financial, legal, and construction professionals committed to historic renovation and serving the low-income elderly population.

Although the WWHA had no relevant development experience, by 1997 it had been successful in obtaining HOME funds, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and Historic Tax Credits through the State of Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, as well as other funding. The renovation work began in June 1997.

The Washington School is on the National Register of Historic Places, so special care had to be taken with all alterations. The building originally housed offices and six classrooms on three floors. The new design called for converting it into 24 one-bedroom units with common areas on each floor and installing an elevator. Two of the units are handicapped accessible. Due to the original configuration of the building, no two units have exactly the same floor plan. Most of the building's original features, such as windows, doors, and wood floors, were restored and retained.

Despite cost restrictions imposed by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission as a condition of funding, the renovation was completed as planned in approximately 11 months at a cost of just over $90,000 per unit. In order to comply with both the cost restrictions and the needs of the project, the architect, contractor, and legal and financial consultants all reduced their fees, and the WWHA did not collect a development fee.

The marketing effort for the project included a mailing to all seniors on the housing authority waiting list, special outreach to agencies serving seniors, presentations at various senior activities, and a senior health fair and several other senior education activities in the building. The Washington School Apartments opened in May 1998 and were fully occupied about one year later. All of the residents have incomes at or below 50 percent of median.

Since its opening, the project has enjoyed extraordinary support from the community. Clearly, the development of Washington School Apartments has provided a much-needed housing resource and resulted in the restoration and revitalization of an important historic structure for the entire community.

Project Funding

Source Amount National Equity Fund (equity partner) $1,304,118     Low-Income Housing Tax Credits 975,585     Historic Tax Credits 328,533     HOME Grant (Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development) 525,000     *Washington Community Reinvestment Association 335,000     TOTAL $2,164,118     *Permanent loan: construction loan provided by First Savings Bank of Washington.