A long-standing and mostly abandoned public school in Colorado Springs is about to see new life, repurposed as an affordable apartment complex.
Located at 909 E. Moreno Avenue, the former Helen Hunt Elementary School is a two-story brick structure built around 1902.
In 2016, members of the Colorado Springs District 11 school board, looking at a $14 million list of upgrades and repairs needed to keep the school running, opted to close it instead.
But now a plan announced by the group Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, which serves as the charitable arm of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, will see the school reconverted into anywhere from 21 to 24 affordable apartment units.
Those units, ranging in size from studios to three-bedrooms, will all be relegated to homeless families.
Catholic Charities purchased the building, which sits on a 2.8-acre site, for around $3.9 million in early December. It is thought that it will cost at least $9 million to reconvert the Hunt school. According to sources, at least $5 million has already been raised for the project.
If the fundraising continues on pace, it is expected that work on the project will launch in the spring of 2024, with an estimated completion date of the latter part of that year.
The Hunt building is treasured by local preservationists for its arched windows, wooden floors, and high decorative ceilings.
By Garry Boulard
