Former city school to become housing

from the Times Tribune

A neat reclamation project in Scranton Pennsylvania that will help provide housing for poor families. - Kale

BY JEREMY G. BURTON

A wooden sign above the doors is all but faded. The brickwork is crumbling and pockmarked; windows are broken.

It’s been a century since Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School opened its doors in South Scranton; decades since it last held classes.

But Wednesday, the former school received a new life, as officials broke ground on a $5 million project to turn it into an apartment complex for poor, working families.

The makeover is a project of United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit United Way agency that offers services for those in need. The renovations will overhaul 830 Crown Ave. into 18 apartments for families with incomes in the $20,000 to $30,000 range.

Underscoring the need for decent and affordable housing, new census estimates revealed last week that 20 percent of Scranton residents were living in poverty in 2007 — a 3 percent rise.

“We know it before it comes out in the paper,” UNC Executive Director Michael Hanley said. “We see it every day.”

This is the first big housing project for UNC’s community development corporation, with funding coming from a mix of state, federal and charitable grants.

The apartments will be geared toward families just getting on their feet, then helping them toward homeownership. Renovations should take a year to complete, with residents moving in late next summer, Mr. Hanley said.

Neighbors welcomed progress on the abandoned building but aren’t yet ready to judge.

“I don’t think anybody really cares as long as you don’t run into any trouble,” said Jack Benke, who lives on Beech Street across from the school, where he was once a student.

“If they’re going to get riffraff, they might as well forget it,” said his father, Russel Benke, also an HBS alumnus.

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