Aberdeen Apartments: Sioux City, IA
(by Arch Icon)
The first large step in the project was having the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was done by amending the existing listing for the main high school building (where Anne Landers and Dear Abby attended high school!) Once accepted by the board under the auspices of the Iowa SHPO, a fine line had to be made to utilize historic tax credits. Through much back-and-forth with the Department of the Interior, it was finally agreed upon that building apartment units within half of the gymnasium would be acceptable. The end result is a truly unique affordable multi-family housing project with a certain vibe of the mid-century original construction built as an accessory building to the Castle on the Hill, the historic high school building which Dear Abby and Ann Landers attended.
The project utilized both Historic tax credits as well as Low Income Housing Tax Credits for portions of funding.
Ten units built on the gymnasium floor, with additional units built on the surrounding balcony (the gym was sized to have a viewing capacity of 5,000 sports enthusiasts).
Historic corridors and stairs all kept intact, for use by the new residents.
The pool and boys’ and girls’ practice gymnasiums were converted to a mix of indoor parking as well as additional residential units, where possible.