According to Jeffrey Graham, an architect with Kem-Tec and Associates, plans call for converting the former Roose Elementary School building into 40 one-bedroom apartments for seniors, including several ADA-compliant units. Planned site improvements also include parking lot upgrades, a new trash enclosure, a community patio and pergola, community gardens and additional landscaping.
By: Brian Wells | Warren Weekly | Published June 17, 2026
WARREN — A vacant elementary school on the city’s north side could soon be transformed into a senior living community.
At its June 1 meeting, the Warren Planning Commission unanimously approved plans for the redevelopment of the former Roose Elementary School, on Masch Avenue, into a 40-unit market-rate senior housing community.
In November 2017, Center Line Public Schools passed a $53.95 million bond issue, which allowed for construction of a new-and-updated Roose school. The new building opened in September 2022.
Even though the school is located in Warren, it was part of the Center Line Public Schools district.
According to Jeffrey Graham, an architect with Kem-Tec and Associates, who presented at the meeting, plans for the project call for converting the existing school building into 40 one-bedroom apartments for seniors, including several ADA-compliant units. Planned site improvements also include parking lot upgrades, a new trash enclosure, a community patio and pergola, community gardens and additional landscaping.
The project would also preserve access to existing playground areas adjacent to the site while adding more amenities.
“We’ve been working with the city and the school district to provide access so the residents can use the parks,” Graham said. “We also intend to enhance them with additional shuffleboard courts and park benches.”
He also noted the senior housing development would generate significantly less activity than the former school use.
“It should be made aware that this facility will be a lot less active than it was when it was being used by a school, so, therefore, the neighbors should find more comfort knowing that the use of the building will be a lot less intense, especially when we are dealing with seniors,” he said. “They are not exactly commuters with a lot of driving.”
Colleen Krupinski, who lives behind the school, questioned how many people would live in the development and how it would affect the nearby streets.
“The school’s small, and it sounds like they’re going to put little apartment buildings in there … I was thinking it was going to be more of a nursing home,” she said.
Lori Zimmerman, who said she lives across the street from the school, voiced concerns about parking on the street.
“When the school was there, there was no parking allowed on the school side of the street, but now with the park there … the street is lined all the time with cars on both sides of the street,” she said.
Her concerns, she said, were whether or not emergency vehicles would be able to access the street, and if they would be able to prevent driveways from being blocked.
Graham said the development itself is unlikely to create parking problems, noting that many senior residents don’t drive.
“This is more parking than we need,” he said. “Most of the residents don’t have cars.”
Mike Connell, an employee for Center Line Public Schools, said parking issues in the area largely began after pickleball courts were added to the adjacent city park.
“The reason we have problems with parking is, since they put the pickleball nets in the park, we’ve had all kinds of problems with people parking on the playground, in the back of the school, all over the place,” he said.
Commissioner Syed Hoque said the project would be a positive reuse of the vacant property.
“This building has been vacant for a while and it’s getting a lot of problems and making this neighborhood a mess,” he said.
While the Planning Commission unanimously approved the site, the project still needs to obtain zoning variances before moving forward.