It looks as though a former primary school in Williamsport is closer to becoming apartments for new residents and office space for the building developer.

City Council has approved conditional-use for Moonrise Acquisitions LLC, whose owner George Hutchinson of Rose Street, based on discussion with council, is having a design and planning team work with him to recondition and repurpose the former Thaddeus Stevens Primary School at 1150 Louisa St.

The conditional-use vote followed a public hearing held in accordance with city ordinance and Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code.

Nobody at the meeting spoke in favor or against the project. Notification was presented to nearby residents and advertised in the Sun-Gazette.

The proposal shows a plan to convert the former school into multi-family dwellings with residual office space, according to Gary Knarr, city zoning administrator and office manager at the Bureau of Codes.

Multiple family dwellings within the resident R2 zoning district require conditional-use, which is permitted and allows municipalities to put conditions on its use.

The existing structure will be converted in a first phase consisting of 28 to 32 units with a maximum desired plan of 55 units and about 4,000 square feet of office space.

Phase One will be strictly 28 to 32 units, Knarr said, of the project that will be managed in-house. It meets all off-street parking requirements and may add another access, which, if chosen, would be reviewed by the city engineer and zoning officer.

The school building was closed in 2022 and the repurposing has been given a letter of support from the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

The conversion of the former school building will put the property on the tax rolls, Knarr said.

The project was reviewed by the Williamsport Planning Commission, which did not see any need to add any restrictions on it at this time, nor did Knarr, as it is shown on designs and plans.

The project is not expected to change the character of the neighborhood, and, because it was previously a school with over 701 students, 50 faculty members and had buses and deliveries in and out of it, would not create an impact on the neighborhood density, according to officials.

Councilwoman Bonnie Katz asked about the reconstruction timeline. Knarr said the city is already working with the company architect and design teams and based on that he assumed reconstruction would begin within the next year or sooner.

Hutchinson plans to move operations (LGN) from Rose Street to the first floor of the new development, Knarr said, which is how the 4,000 square feet of office space would apply.

Council vice president Eric Beiter noted how it will be nice and needed to see the building occupied by residents in a city where quality housing is needed and encouraged the design to include a secondary access because it was a bit hard to negotiate the corner at the top of Rural Avenue.

He had hoped that design addition could happen a little bit sooner than later to alleviate traffic pressure on the corner and Rural Avenue from the east.

According to the school board, it made its decision based on a 2020 districtwide feasibility study to determine the long-term viability of the school. The study found that renovating the current building would cost over $20 million, and if they decided to tear down the current building and construct a new one, it would cost over $26 million.

At that time, there were 261 students enrolled at the school.

The plan was for those students to be spread out between three other primary schools in the district.