CHENEY – The Schoolhouse Lofts is one of the most unique buildings in Cheney. The structure, built in 1931, was the original Cheney junior high school until 1967. In 2017, it was retrofit into a residential apartment building that houses many of today’s Eastern Washington University students.
The Lofts stands as one of the best examples of how to take an old building and retrofit it into something that has utility in modern-day society.
“That was a particularly well-done preservation project,” said Susan Beeman, city of Cheney’s GIS/Permit Technician.
Beeman also resides on the Cheney depot commission and helps organize the Historic Preservation Commission meetings.
Historic preservation is all about saving buildings and architecture while enabling them to be safely used by the community at large. In this case, project designer Sean Barnes of the Eastmark Capital Group wanted to preserve the old school’s central gymnasium and running track that circled the gymnasium on the floor above.
It’s sort of like restoring and modifying a 1967 Fast Back Mustang to modern-day safety standards. So, this new resto-mod drives and handles like a modern-day automobile, but when you look at it, you see a piece of ‘60s muscle car history driving down the road.
“He (Barnes) retained the character-defining features,” Beeman said. “He retained the original windows, he retained the high ceilings that were typical of that building, the entrances, and that gymnasium still exists with at least a portion of that walking/running trail around the inside of it.”
Barnes led a development team designating the gymnasium and theater as instrumental features for the renovation.
The completed project resulted in the 56,000 square foot structure containing 36 residential units with studio and two- and four-bedroom floor plans. Barnes turned the gymnasium into a rec room with pool and ping pong tables, and the theater also became a rec room on the third floor. It still contains complete rows of the original seating.
“It (the building) was tied to the early history of Cheney—dozens of Cheney residents went to school there and had memories of the place,” Beeman said. “He (Barnes) took a building and did a really wonderful job of changing the use and changing the configuration on the inside, but on the outside, it still looks like a school.”
The total renovation cost is $8,000,00, according to a case study published by the National Parks Service. A $5,250,000 bank loan partially funded it. Developer and partner equity accounted for another $2,750,000. The federal historic tax credit generated the final $1,372,000, which ended up being an essential part of the funding process. Without the tax credit, the historical preservation portion of the renovation project wouldn’t have happened because of the complexity and cost associated with the undertakings.
The building now stands as a monument to the students of Cheney past, present, and future. It is an essential part of Cheney’s history and will continue to be so for Cheney’s next generation of students.
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