Victory School turns old Ypsilanti church into new school

Adaptive reuse can go a lot of different ways, turning things like old factories into office space and churches into lofts. But transforming an old church into a school?That’s what’s happening on the southwest side of Ypsilanti, where Midwest Creative Investments (MCI) is turning Transfiguration Catholic Church into the new home of Victory Academy. The funny thing is the adaptive reuse of the building promises to be easier than it sounds.”I think when they built it, they meant it to be a school,” says Mohamad Issa, co-owner of Midwest Creative Investments and director of Global Education Excellence, which manages charter schools.Victory Academy is a charter school that was founded in 2006 with about 100 students. Today it teaches about 125 students between Kindergarten and 5th Grade. It counts kids who are bilingual in languages like Arabic and Spanish as part of its student body.MCI sees the old church, which it paid $1.2 million for, as a way to accommodate its long-term growth needs of educating up to 250 students. The church is about 25,000 square feet on 10 acres on East Forest next to Willow Run High School. The building has eight classroom and a cafeteria, among other amenities. “It’s a lot of green land,” Issa says. “It’s a beautiful facility.”Source: Mohamad Issa, co-owner of Midwest Creative Investments and director of Global Education ExcellenceWriter: Jon Zemke