Avesta South Paris senior housing, in former school, set to open
Courtesy / Norway Bank
Former Fox School students and teachers join employees of Norway Savings Bank and Avesta Housing, including the president and CEO of each, in front of the former Fox School in South Paris last summer. The bank donated $20,000 to the project.
The former Fox School in South Paris is about to welcome residents into what is now new senior housing.
Portland nonprofit Avesta has converted the two-story former school into 12 affordable rental apartments for seniors. The residence is scheduled to open at the end of the month.
As part of the redevelopment, Avesta is collecting memories from those associated with the school “to ensure that generations of stories are recorded at this pivotal point in the building’s history,” the organization says on its website. Avesta hopes to create a book for display in the building’s community room.
The school, originally Oxford Normal School, opened in 1885 and expanded in 1940. It was an elementary school for 100 years before closing in 2008, and was the Brick School until 1967, when it was renamed the Mildred Fox School in honor of a former principal. It was leased by Oxford Hills Christian Academy from 2008 until 2016, when the town bought it from Maine School Administrative District 17.
Avesta bought it in December 2017 for $125,000. The school was put on the National Register of Historic Places in June 2017, and historic development tax credits were among the funding tools used to develop it.
The architect on the project was Archetype Architects of Portland and the general contractor was Portland Builders, also of Portland.
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