Brian White, superintendent of Butler Area School District, attended a winter conference at Pittsburgh’s Energy Innovation Center and took an open seat right next to Don Evans.

Only a few months later, Evans would present a plan to the Butler school board regarding the rehabilitation of Butler Middle School through the nonprofit Pittsburgh Gateways.

Next month the school board will vote on transferring the 180,000-square-foot facility at 225 E. North Street to Pittsburgh Gateways at a cost of $1 so that the redevelopment company can turn it into a developmental space for the region.

White said the company’s transformation of Pittsburgh’s Connelley Trade School into the Energy Innovation Center demonstrates what he would like to see happen to the former middle school.

“It was in pretty bad shape, and they remodeled it with the specific purpose of making it a multiuse facility for workforce development, job training and it has commercial tenants,” White said. “Finding someone who has developed an old school successfully is unique.”

White said officials from the school district, City of Butler and Butler County started meeting with Pittsburgh Gateways representatives shortly after his encounter with Evans. He said Evans expressed interest in redeveloping the middle school after a tour of the building.

While the transfer of ownership gets the middle school off the school district’s plate, White said he hopes to see it become a hub of activity for community and economic development.

“We'll be happy to see something successful in Butler. We also think it would be supportive of Main Street,” he said. “They are interested in ... turning it into a redevelopment space.”

Evans, CEO and president of Pittsburgh Gateways, said the Energy Innovation Center, which the corporation rehabilitated in 2010, is about the same size as the former middle school, so some of the reconstruction will be similar.

However, the ensuing plans for the building’s operation and use will be be completely different from the center, because Butler has different opportunities and needs than the Pittsburgh Hill District location.

Evans said he has been in talks with county leaders to find out what should be included in the plans for the building. Amenities such as job training and health care have been addressed by local officials, he said.

“We're really using context of (Energy Innovation Center) as lessons learned in how do you take an old school building and adaptively reuse it for community benefit,” Evans said. “Our goal is to make it energy efficient, but also leverage the space by employing workforce development efforts and business incubation by connecting dots with community providers, services.”

Evans said he also has talked with officials of private business entities who have expressed interest in having space in the completed building. In addition to the space used by Pittsburgh Gateways, Evans said there will be rental office spaces that will funnel money back into the redevelopment mission of the nonprofit.

“We will be operating that facility as manager with excess rents going back into the mission of continuing to develop (the) building, programs, workforce,” he said.

In June, the Butler County commissioners hired Pittsburgh Gateways to prepare its plan for a reuse study of the building. The $600,000 cost was paid for by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mark Gordon, Butler County’s chief of economic development and planning, said having a new nonprofit corporation in the city will be good for development, and bringing several entities together in the same place will breed further impact on established businesses.

“It's in the heart of the urban corridor, and there are some potentials for maybe some business and business expansion into the building,” Gordon said. “We're putting business-related activities there; that allows for more foot traffic. There is an opportunity for some economic vitality.”

On a structural level, Evans said the building — which is older than 100 years — is in good shape, but there will be challenges in reconfiguring a facility designed to house young students. However, Pittsburgh Gateways faced similar challenges with the Connelley Trade School.

“It has an absolutely gorgeous auditorium, great gymnasium and we see that as an opportunity for community, so we are looking for engagement there,” Evans said. “It's built with big wide halls for moving a bunch of middle-schoolers, but they are a big waste of space when you think of office use. But we know those challenges because we've got a building here which is about the same size.”

Evans also said the school district administration was smart to vacate the building when it did.

Gordon concurred, and said the structure’s design may attract entrepreneurs to making it a home.

“The intent would be to maintain its architectural character and appeal and yet allow it to function for its next purpose,” Gordon said.

“This is not typical real estate development. We bring in a lot of federal funds, state funds, foundation grants, we are coming in for the long-term investment,” Evans said.

White said it may take around a year for the building to be cleaned out.

A lot of the supplies — such as desks, chairs and tables — were distributed to the elementary schools, which now hold fifth-grade students. Unused materials will be sold through auction, White said.

Once everything is moved out, it will take only a few months more for locals to notice a difference at the building, according to Evans.

“We have targeted nine months to a year before you see a reawakening of the building, because it does take time,” he said.

Conversation will continue through the foreseeable future between Pittsburgh Gateways and Butler County officials regarding the redevelopment of the former middle school.

Evans said he will be working with local officials and business leaders, including White and Gordon, to best plan for the future of the site.

Gordon said he has high hopes that the redeveloped building will change the city for the better. He also said Butler County’s relationship to the building will be similar to its relationship to the Community Development Corporation of Butler County and county Chamber of Commerce, which are “county-related entities” that receive some local funding.

Gordon called the project a symphony of collaboration.

“It’s no one person, no one entity doing it,” Gordon said. “It's the fact that through the art of collaboration and excellent strategic thinking that we are able to accomplish some of these things.”

Ever the educational ambassador, White’s view of the project is one that can further breed opportunities for students and graduating seniors of the region.

“We have some young people who don't find their way to the workforce, don't find their way into the community,” White said. “I think that's part of the mission, is finding a place to help those people.”

Evans said there will be intermittent updates about the development of the old middle school, but those are also far in the future.

He said the project planning stage, which Pittsburgh Gateways will stay in for the near future, is going well, and he is anticipating the conversations still to come.

“I liken it to a jigsaw puzzle, and now we are just turning all the pieces over, then we start connecting them and see how the picture forms,” Evans said. “It is all relevant to the context of Butler, so we are not looking to duplicate the (Energy Innovation Center), we are looking at the local context and needs.”