Developer transforms former elementary school into ‘much-needed’ housing

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

May 12, 2025

VESPER – Vesper Elementary School held its last classes during the 2017-18 school year, falling to ever-shrinking budgets, declining enrollment and needed repairs. 

Since that June, it sat vacant, used mostly by the Wisconsin Rapids School District as a storage facility. 

Meanwhile, Vesper-native Sherri Stempa – herself a student at the school for grades two through six – said every time she looked at the building, she would reminisce about days gone by, but also imagine what it could become, given the opportunity. 

The daughter of a handyman, Stempa – who had also renovated and flipped five homes in the past – said she was developing a strong desire to buy the old school building. 

“The more I saw it, the more I thought about buying it,” she said. “I kept telling my husband, ‘I’d really like to get that. It’s just sitting there vacant, and it would be nice to do something with it.’ He thought I was crazy. I can walk into a room or look at a building and tell you exactly what I want to do with it, while my husband says all he sees are cement walls. A lot of people are like that, but I’m blessed to be able to have a vision.”

What Stempa said she envisioned was turning the old school into much-needed apartments in the Vesper community. 

“There is very little available housing in Vesper,” she said. “It’s a very small town, but one of the reasons people want to live here is because it’s centrally located and people can easily commute to work in nearby Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids or Wausau.”

Knowing she could fill a need by repurposing the 140-year-old school, Stempa said she approached the district to see if they’d sell it to her. 

However, before she was able to make an offer, the district decided to put the building up for bid. 

“At that point, I thought I’d lost it, because it was a sealed bid (process) and I had only so much money to spend,” she said. “I was sick to my stomach for a month. But I was a little mad, too, because before I asked about it, nobody wanted it or even inquired about it, and now that I wanted to buy it, they were putting it up for bid.”

Stempa said her daughter told her “what’s meant to be is meant to be.”

“So, I just put out my top bid, which was more than I would have had to pay, (if they’d sold it to me directly) – but it didn’t matter, I still wanted it,” she said. “And when I got it, obviously, I was overjoyed. And my daughter said, ‘I guess it was meant to be.’ So, in 2023, it became mine.”

Renovation begins, but troubles soon follow

Before she could start renovating, Stempa said she needed to clean out the building, which had served as storage for nearly six years.

In the building, she said there were “four or five entire classrooms packed full of (stuff)” – including desks, 100 or more filing cabinets and all kinds of other furniture and school supplies. 

“The district didn’t even want the stuff,” she said.

Stempa said she started to demo the property April 1, 2024, with the rebuild happening in two phases.

The first phase, she said, included creating a total of six one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with an on-site fitness center and community event venue.

The second phase, Stempa said, will include five additional apartments.

She said she also has plans to build garages for all 11 apartments. 

Stempa said she served as general contractor on the project, hiring subcontractors when needed, but otherwise doing much of the work herself, along with her current husband (when he wasn’t traveling for work), her daughter and son and her ex-husband, with whom she said she has remained close friends with through the years. 

Even with all the help, Stempa said the project was anything but smooth sailing in the beginning.

At times, she said she even questioned whether she could afford to finish the first phase of the project. 

One of her greatest frustrations, Stempa said, was contractors who didn’t fulfill their commitments.

“The first carpenter… he overbooked himself and had three big housing projects after mine, but went to work on them instead and left me hanging,” she said. “It was bad – I didn’t know what I was going to do. It took me about a month and a half to find another carpenter. I didn’t want to look desperate, because if they think you’re desperate, they’re going to charge you twice as much.”

Stempa said the second carpenter she found did excellent work, but sadly, he died in a motorcycle accident about a month after he started working on the job.

“He was a great guy and so talented – his crew wasn’t the same after that,” she said.

Stempa said her ex-husband – a recently retired carpenter and handyman, himself – helped gather folks to help finish the carpentry work.

Though the intention was for the first phase to be completed by last November, she said “because of the carpenter delays, they weren’t framed up.”

“That held back the drywallers, electricians, plumbers and everybody else,” Stempa said.

Still, she said she persevered, and the first phase was completed in early March.

An official ribbon-cutting for the Villas of Vesper – located at 6443 Virginia St. – she said, was held later that month. 

A vision becomes reality

The first phase of the Villas of Vesper, Stempa said, includes two three-bedroom units, a one-bedroom unit and three two-bedroom units.

The second phase renovations, which are just getting underway, she said, will include one three-bedroom unit, two two-bedroom units and two one-bedroom units.

Stempa said the apartments are all very spacious, ranging from approximately 1,000-1,800 square feet, with rent between $1,000 and $1,500 a month. 

Each apartment, she said, includes a stove, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher.

Though washers and dryers are not provided, Stempa said there is space for them in each unit.  

“Everything is on one level, which is important to a lot of people – especially as they get older,” she said. “It’s open-concept, and there are big, wide hallways in them. Nothing is small. It’s like living in a house… All the ceilings are vaulted, so they have good height.” 

Stempa said every apartment is different, including different floor plans and different types of flooring.

The ductwork in each unit, she said, is boxed in, giving the room some definition.

“There are no two apartments alike,” she said. “And we put a lot of insulation in the apartments, so they’re pretty much soundproof.”

Stempa said she turned the school’s former library into a community event venue that anyone, whether they are a tenant or not, can rent.

She said they’ve already had parties and showers held there.      

The school’s former kitchen, Stempa said, was gutted and turned into the Feelin’ Fit Fitness Center, which includes areas for strength training and cardio.

There’s even a sauna, which Stempa said is where one of the former kitchen’s two storage rooms was located.

The other storage room, she said, was transformed into a bathroom.

Tenants get a free membership to the 24/7 fitness center, which Stempa said is also open to the public through memberships.

Stempa said she left the former school’s gymnasium intact for tenants to use at their leisure.

“I used every inch of that building – every single inch,” she said. “There is no wasted space anywhere. To tell you the truth, I think the school district thought the building needed a lot more repairs than it did.”

Grateful for all the help

Stempa said she paid $100,151.99 for the approximately 16-acre property and took out a $600,000 loan to complete the first phase renovations. 

She said she also qualified for a $200,000 grant under the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s (WEDC) Idle Sites Redevelopment Program. 

“Without that, it would have been really tough to do the project,” she said. “It was already tough, I’d been pinching pennies for a while (without the help)… I can’t even believe people’s kindness.”

Stempa said the second phase of the project is expected to also cost about $600,000 – with the garages being another $100,000. 

She said she plans to look to TIF district funds from the Village of Vesper for support.

Because they did so much of the work themselves, Stempa said hundreds of thousands of dollars were saved in labor, with her 24-year-old daughter serving as her right-hand woman.

“That girl was with me every day…” she said. “She worked her butt off helping me get this done.”

Stempa said her 18-year-old son also chipped in – traveling all over with her to find equipment for the fitness center, as well as cabinets and cupboards for the units.

Barring any delays, she said she hopes to have phase two’s five apartments done “before the snow flies.”

And because they now have the process “down to a science,” Stempa said she doesn’t anticipate any major delays.

With the first six apartments already rented out – strictly by word-of-mouth and social media – she said she’s confident that once completed, the other five will rent out just as quickly.

Despite the challenges that accompanied the project, Stempa said she’s glad she stuck with it. 

“If you want something really bad and have the drive, you can accomplish anything,” she said. “It (shows) you who you are, especially in this case. After a year and a half (of work), it (shows) you what you’re made of.”