Executive Council approved $500k grant to convert Brown School into housing

BERLIN — The governor and Executive Councillast Wednesday approved a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to Berlin for the rehabilitation of the former Brown School into affordable housing units.

The city will subgrant the $500,000 to TKB Properties LLC., which is converting the property into 20 housing units, of which a majority must be for low to moderate income households.

The total estimated cost of the renovation is $1.16 million.

TKB Properties received the vacant building from the city for $1 and is financing the rest of the cost through a bank loan, according to the application filed with the N.H. Community Development Finance Authority, which oversees the CDBG program.

The project will contain a mix of one and two bedroom apartments with five rented at market rates and the remaining 15 reserved for low and moderate income households. In the application, the city said there is a great demand for affordable house in the city.

The application noted the building at 190 Norway St. is historic, with the main building built in 1913 and the wing added in 1959.

The school district closed the school at the end of the 2018-2019 school year and turned it back over to the city. Since then, the city has continued to heat and keep electricity in the building. The renovation will remove those expenses for the city while adding the building to the city’s property tax roll.

The Community Development Finance Authority gives a Dec. 31,2024 deadline for the grant to be closed out.

More from this section

Where Does New Hampshire Rank in the Manufactured Housing Boom?

Movies and TV shows casting in Portsmouth

The city initially put out a request for proposals for the sale and development of the building in the fall of 2019.

Two proposals were received — the one from TKB Properties and one from Wildcat LLC of Jackson.

A Brown School Committee, with membership from the neighborhood, was set up to review the proposals. The group recommended Wildcat LLC because its plan recommended a higher end apartment complex.

But then COVID-19 hit and the plan stalled for two years.

The city put it back out for requests in late 2021 and the same two firms responded. This time, the city council selected TKB Properties. While both firms have done projects in the city, councilors noted the TKB Properties had done larger projects and had successfully converted the former Bartlett School into housing.

Before the city could finalize the agreement with TKB Properties, a new state law required the city to offer charter schools the right-of-first refusal on the former school building. None expressed interest in the property by the April 11 deadline.

•••

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.