Tuxedo Senior Living Facility—Former Tuxedo Elementary School

A school that was a place of childhood learning may become the future of senior living in Birmingham.

Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office is asking the city council to accept $3 million in federal funds set aside by Congresswoman Terri Sewell to buy and renovate North Birmingham Elementary School.

Birmingham City Schools closed the school in 2012.

As part of the mayor’s plan to add 2,500 housing units in the city, the city is looking at turning the school into a senior living development.

“It’s gonna be a spectacular kind of a forward facing building with maybe a coffee shop in the old cafeteria,” said Kelvin Datcher, Senior Advisor to Mayor Randall Woodfin. “We’ve acquired 12 land bank properties surrounding the 6.6 acres that the school sits on. So now we have a chance to maybe do some independent living senior cottages around the development as we convert that school building into, I think about a 50-unit state-of-the-art senior building.”

The council’s budget and finance committee recommended sending the proposal to the full council to be voted on next Tuesday.