Perk Valley SB Approves Agreement of Sale for Trappe Building

The Perkiomen Valley School Board approved Monday an agreement of sale with Oldschool Newhouse, LLC regarding the vacant “Trappe Building,” the former Collegeville-Trappe High School and the Perkiomen Valley Middle School, for $1.4 million.

According to the agreement of sale, Oldschool Newsschool, LLC, a designee of Gorski Engineering, plans to convert the existing school structure  into apartments, and to subdivide the excess land on the 10.78-acre property into lots for residential units, pursuant to Trappe Borough ordinances.

Trappe Borough Council President Fred Schuetz said that representatives of the developer plan to meet with borough officials to discuss the project further, and there has been no indication that there would be a request to change zoning; the property is currently zoned residential.

Last month, a group of residents who had petitioned the school board to reconsider its approval of a separate letter of intent from the Gambone Group, which would have potentially knocked down the building and replaced it with 50 town homes.

According to the petition, the project would have replaced “one of the largest remaining parcels of open space and historical colonial revival with a high-density housing development” that will “destroy Trappe’s small-town character and have a detrimental impact on the community revitalization efforts.”