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The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously at its regular meeting last week to approve $150,000 for capital improvements at Schoolhouse Apartments, the 40-unit affordable senior housing complex on South Avenue.
The funds will come from interest accrued on the town’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation, and will be held in a special projects fund as bids on individual projects come in, officials said at the meeting, held July 7 at Town Hall and via videoconference.
Steve Hoover, who became president of Schoolhouse Apartments Inc. four months ago, told the board that the nonprofit had been in serious trouble when a new executive committee took over in March.
“For 11 of the last 36 months, we had no on-site property manager,” Hoover said. “We had three different site managers. It was demoralizing to our residents and disastrous to our financials.”
By the end of 2025, the property was averaging five vacant units, compared to the typical half to one vacancy for a Section 8 property, and had run a $100,000 operating loss, he said. Payables had increased from $5,000 to $100,000, with vendors refusing to provide services to the building.
The new board moved quickly, Hoover told the selectmen. It raised just under $200,000 in 45 days through a private fundraising campaign, hired a new property management company, and began renovating vacant units to restore cash flow.
In four months, the building has gone from 35 occupied units to 39, with a 40th expected within weeks, he said. There is a waiting list longer than the number of units in the building.
Selectman Steve Karl said, “Think about how small an investment this is from us to keep those affordable units online. It’s a bargain.”
The Schoolhouse Apartments is operated by a nonprofit organization of the same name. The property is town-owned, tax records show.
The $150,000 will go toward a heavy renovation of Unit 108 at Schoolhouse Apartments—a 1931-built brick structure that originally served as New Canaan’s first junior high school (the police building opened as the first New Canaan High School in 1927). The unit has been vacant for 18 months, converting the former on-site supervisor’s unit into an additional rental unit, renovating hallways and common areas, updating the security system, and installing air conditioning test units ahead of a likely full AC replacement in 2027, Hoover said. The second and third floor hallways averaged 82 and 85 degrees respectively during a recent stretch of hot weather.
Karl said: “These are never empty. People need these places. And the fact that you got four of them already, and are going to flip another one, it’s just incredible.”
Hoover said the residents, whose average age is 80, have been among the most visible signs of progress.
“In all my years in commercial real estate, I have never seen a bigger transformation in four months,” he said. “When I came in, they were just hopeless. They were angry. But they’re profoundly hopeful now.”
First Selectman Dionna Carlson said she had visited the property early in her term and had been concerned about what she saw.
“I was quite frankly disturbed by the state of the building,” Carlson said. “I am beyond impressed. I don’t think people realize what an incredible asset this is to the community and how important it is to our affordable housing. This allows people who are elderly to live in walking distance in this beautiful town and have access to everything.”
Public Works Director Tiger Mann and DPW Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann have provided technical support to the new board throughout the process, handling tree removal, landscaping and other exterior improvements that residents have noticed.
Carlson said: “One of the residents came up to me and said how much she appreciated all the landscaping work that had been done. She was a big gardener. It’s just what makes her feel good about where she is.”
The $150,000 request must still be approved by the Board of Finance, which meets July 21, and the Town Council, officials said.
Hoover, who described the work as “a full-time job and more,” said the building still has a long road ahead, but the trajectory has changed.
“We’re certainly not out of the woods yet,” he said. “We’re just starting.”