School house may help teachers with housing

By: Isabel Mascareñas

St. Petersburg, Florida -The housing market is pricing many people out of the area especially those in public service like teachers.

The starting salary for a Pinellas County teacher is about $36,000. The average price for a single family home or condo is $196,000. But plans to recycle an old school building into affordable housing for teachers may be the answer to the problem.

Don Shea, President of the St Petersburg Downtown Partnership, lives across from the 83-year-old school house known as Euclid Elementary. While sitting on the porch with his wife one afternoon Shea came up with an idea for the old building, turn it into affordable housing for teachers.

Don Shea, President, St Petersburg Downtown Partnership:

“It's the right scale for neighborhood not too tall or too short…beautiful features arched windows are great and because it was a school house there's open space inside not a lot of plumbing to rip out.”

A school district official says the superintendent is seriously considering Shea's proposal but there are still many details to work out, which include getting school board approval.

Shea:

“This is designed as an attraction and retention tool for school board to generate interest among teachers joining the system and staying there if they can afford to live there.”

Preliminary plans would turn the school building into nine condos and build 14 town homes on the property. Shea says by transferring the school district property into a Community Land Trust, buyers would own the building not the land, cutting the cost by half.

Christine Page, Pres. Neighborhood Association::

“I think it's a great idea it's an old building under utilized building, a historic building important to Euclid St Paul history anything we can do to use the building is great.”

Shea is submitting a letter of intent to the school district to formalize the proposal. If the school board approves it the Downtown Partnership would hire an architect to draw up the plans. Units would sell for around 170-thousand dollars.