Contractor wants to turn ex-White Oak School into senior citizen apartments

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

McKeesport Area school board on Wednesday heard from a local contractor who’s interested in purchasing the old White Oak School to convert it into an apartment building for senior citizens.

If Branden Kucich purchases the building, which is located at 1415 California Ave. and has been shuttered since 2014, it won’t be the first old McKeesport Area school building he and his wife Heather Kucich have turned into living spaces for senior citizens.

Through their company, RMK Investments, the Kucichs are breathing life back into MASD’s former Centennial School at 1601 Beaver St. in McKeesport. 

Centennial’s classrooms are being turned into one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors. In a post on The Centennial School Facebook page in January, RMK revealed there are 42 apartments in the former school building, which also closed in 2014 as a result of Twin Rivers Elementary School being built.

For several years, MASD school board and administrators have made it clear they hoped to sell the shuttered school buildings and get them on the tax rolls. And according to their website, that’s the goal of the Kucichs as well.

“As the owner of the Centennial School project, RMK Investments seeks to reinvest in the McKeesport area,” the website states. “Their vision for the Centennial School is to give a new purpose to a once-abandoned public asset. RMK Investments desires to see a rebirth of the McKeesport area and feels strongly about renovating and revitalizing old structures.”

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