A vacant 126-year-old school in Strawberry Mansion will become senior housing

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More than two decades after Rudolph Walton Elementary closed, a nonprofit developer is preparing to breathe new life into the historic North Philadelphia school.

The blighted stone building on North 22nd Street near Huntingdon in Strawberry Mansion will be converted into a 50-unit apartment building for older adults with low incomes.

The homes will all be subsidized through a partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which owns the building and the land.

“It is really a special opportunity,” said Emma Colley, vice president of affordable housing development at HELP Development Corp. “Firstly, restoring such a beautiful building and, more importantly, providing the neighbors and community members with a whole vibrant space that they can be a part of.”

The units will all be one-bedroom and available to people aged 55 and above.

A total of 37 units will be affordable to individuals earning up to 50% of the area median income. The rest will be priced for residents earning up to 30% of AMI.

That translates to between $25,770 and $42,950 a year.

The $34 million project is backed by Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, meaning they will remain affordable for at least 40 years after construction.

A neighborhood ‘eyesore’

Built in 1900, the four-story property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is not locally designated, meaning it is not protected against demolition.

The school closed in 2003, shuttered as part of a larger series of closings carried out by the School District of Philadelphia.

The housing authority bought the abandoned building in 2015 to develop into affordable housing. The purchase came after KIPP Philadelphia, a charter school operator, backed out of a deal to buy and renovate the property for one of its high school programs.

In the PHA deal, the authority also acquired the Gen. John F. Reynolds School and Robert Vaux High School, both of which are located in the Sharswood section of North Philadelphia.

“There are real ways for us to come at the issue of these long-term vacant former school buildings. There are ways for us to bring them back into good use. It’s quite unfortunate … the city as a whole hasn’t seized upon the opportunity,” PHA President Kelvin Jeremiah said.

HELPDevCO will enter into a 99-year ground lease with the housing, enabling the company to transform the property into a senior apartment building.

The interior of the graffiti-tagged building is in bad shape and needs a lot of work, with broken wood and shattered glass scattered throughout.

In 2011, the Philadelphia City Controller’s office issued a report recommending that Rudolph Walton be considered for demolition. At the time, the property was deemed structurally sound but an “eyesore for the entire neighborhood.”

The report also cited interviews with surrounding neighbors, who said drug use “can be seen on this property on any given night, and that the area is not patrolled by police.”

Colley said the property will be completely gutted and renovated.

“We will protect some architectural features such as any old built-ins or moldings — or even in the classrooms, you can still see some of the chalkboards,” she said.

Construction is expected to start by the end of the year and take roughly 14 months to complete.