Expat, back home, has big plans to redevelop the Bok school
After 5 years in London, Lindsey Scannapieco returned to Philly in June and won a competition to remake the historic S. Phila. school.
LINDSEY SCANNAPIECO, 28, of South Philadelphia, is managing partner and principal of Scout Ltd., which redevelops vacant properties. It recently won a competition to redevelop the vacant, eight-story Edward W. Bok Technical High School, on 9th Street near Mifflin. The daughter of prominent condo/apartment developer Tom Scannapieco, the Philly native moved back in June after five years in London.
Q: How'd you come up with the idea for Scout?
A: I founded a company in London in 2011 and worked on projects to repurpose vacant, unused spaces. I also did full-time consulting and installation pieces. In 2012, we were commissioned to design, develop and manage 10 welcome points as part of the Festival of Neighborhoods, which attracted 2.8 million visitors over a four-month period.
Q: Why'd you move?
A: I went to graduate school at the London School of Economics to study city design and social science.
Q: So you formed a second company to do projects here?
A: I wanted a building to redevelop and was looking at the Philadelphia School Sales website, and there were about 20 properties for sale. Bok [which closed in June 2013] was one, and it was a huge, iconic building that opened in 1938. It had a reasonable price tag, and I submitted a proposal and we were selected.
Q: Why do you think you got tapped to do Bok?
A: The project requires a lot of energy and it's in a changing, diverse neighborhood I live in. The factor is creativity: What we're proposing hasn't been done here. I've seen it done in Amsterdam, on a smaller scale in London and pieces of it being done here.
Q: The plan for Bok?
A: Bok was a vocational school, a place of training and learning. The idea is to do a mixed-use development in phases. We are starting with underground parking. The ground floor is 80,000 square feet, and there's a fantastic art-deco auditorium we'd like to restore as a live-performance or community space. We're also looking at a retail/restaurant use. We want some co-working space because there's a lot of freelancers in South Philly but really little co-working space there now. And the last component is a maker-space, which is a gym for craftsmen, and you pay a membership fee. The later phases will be residential upper floors.
Q: Financing?
A: We're talking to potential public/private partners.
Q: How big a biz is this?
A: Right now we're just trying to build a team. We have some consultants helping me with the due diligence on Bok.
Q: Where do you see Bok three years from now?
A: I see the building being open and successful, certainly a significant piece of it.
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