Two more former parochial schools may soon re-open as apartment buildings, continuing a long-term trend as the Catholic Diocese downsizes its real estate holdings.
As diocesan school populations have shrunk, many schools have closed. The city Zoning Board of Appeals looks today at applications to turn St. Rose of Lima in North Buffalo and St. Teresa's in South Buffalo into apartments.
Architect and developer Karl Frizlen says there will be 36-apartments in St. Teresa's and 21 in St. Rose.
"They were normally built in the Twenties, Thirties, some earlier than that and they are just very well constructed," Frizlen said.
"They are not that difficult to convert into housing because they basically they all have central corridors, have staircases at the end or in the middle so all the means of egress are basically taken care of, so they are already in place."
Frizlen says conversions should take about a year if approved today. He says often the buildings have windows replaced and other measures taken for energy conservation because when the structures are converted, tenants pay the heating bills.