Johnson City High School Transformation Underway

A $20 million project to develop several dozen apartments in the century-old Johnson City High School building is moving forward.

In addition to the residential complex, Broome-Tioga BOCES plans to use a former gymnasium building for its licensed practical nursing program.

The project at 435 Main Street is being developed by William H. Lane Incorporated of Binghamton.

Company president Mark Lane said there will be 32 one-bedroom apartments and 23 two-bedroom units in the three-story main high school structure.

The former gym building will provide 18,000-square-feet of space for use by BOCES.

Construction work has been underway at the site since summer. Much of the activity up to this point has been occurring in the gymnasium structure on the north side of the site.

Lane said the schedule calls for that building to be ready for use by BOCES next April.

Work on the apartment complex is to be completed by the end of 2026. The first residents should be able to move into the renovated school in the spring of 2027.

The project is to receive nearly $1.2 million as part of the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative award to the village of Johnson City.

Plans call for the historic attributes of the former school buildings to be maintained.

The first section of the high school opened for classes in 1915. It closed when the new Johnson City High School on Reynolds Road opened in 1970.

For several decades, the place was home to dozens of business and a few churches when it was known as the NY-Penn Trade Center.

Village code enforcement officials ordered tenants to leave the building in October 2024 because of safety concerns.

WNBF NEWS VIDEO: A two-minute tour of a section of the old Johnson City High School on December 9, 2025. 

BONUS WNBF VIDEO: A look back at our last inspection of the inside of the old school building on October 7, 2024.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.