An $11.3 million project to convert the Schwab School in Weatherly into affordable housing is moving forward with the announcement of $2.2 million in state funding on Tuesday.

Weatherly Mayor Paul Hadzick said a news conference to kick off the multimillion project was scheduled at 3:30 p.m. on the steps of the school, weather permitting.

Melissa Keiser, vice president of the Alliance for Building Communities, the nonprofit organization developing the project, will be on hand with borough officials, state Sen. Dave Argall and Rep. Doyle Heffley.

The project will receive $858,232 in PennHOMES funds from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and also a Reservation of Tax Credits in the amount of $1,128,346 also from the state finance agency.

Another $250,000 in state demolition funds from Carbon and Schuylkill counties were awarded.

The rest of the estimated $11.3 million project cost to convert the former school into 30 apartments will come from private investments and donations.

The project will develop the building into 12 two-bedroom and 18 one-bedroom apartments, and the outside of the building will be restored and preserved, maintaining its unique character.

The former school was a gift to the borough from steel magnate Charles M. Schwab, whose wife, Eurana, hailed from Weatherly. The school, which closed in early 1990s, sits perched on a hill along Spring Street, a central focal point in the town.

Borough council on Monday night moved forward with advertising an ordinance that would allow for a 10-year tax abatement of the school property.

Council last month designated the area of the Schwab School as a blighted area under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Program. The LERTA ordinance is expected to be adopted next month.

The former school annex building, which sits adjacent to the stately, red-brick Schwab School, will be torn down, and provide parking for the housing units.

Borough Manager Harold Pudliner said the demolition funds will pass through the borough to ABC, which will handle the demolition.

The timeline on the project is a year and two months, Hadzick said. Pudliner added that ABC intends to start work sometime next year.

“They’re hoping if everything goes (right), all the stars are aligned, that sometime next year, they’ll start and it’ll take a year to complete the project,’ he said.

The nonprofit ABC has been in existence since 1975 and serves six counties in northeastern Pennsylvania.

ABC has properties in Bethlehem, Slatington and Tamaqua, including the Tamaqua Hi-Rise, Liberty Place and the Hazle Street Apartments, and works under federal Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.