Schoolhouse Rocks

Unusual buildings. Uncommon homes.

Schoolhouse Rocks Inc. is a real estate development company that thrives on creating affordable — not cheap — homes from unusual structures: the empty schools, churches, and halls of southwest Nova Scotia, rebuilt into well-built, energy-efficient homes people are proud to live in.

See the Port LaTour transformation Partner with us
The former Port LaTour Consolidated Elementary School after its conversion into apartments — grey siding, black shutters with white stars, red front doors, stone veneer foundation, and a Canadian flag flying out front
The former Port LaTour Consolidated Elementary School, converted into 15 affordable homes in 2024.
15
Homes at Port LaTour, completed 2024
6
Homes at Amiraults Hill, all occupied
8
Homes coming at Ingomar, targeted late 2027
29
Affordable homes, built from buildings already standing

Affordable. Not cheap.

There is a difference, and it's the whole business. Cheap cuts corners and hands the cost to the people who live there. Affordable is smarter: start with a solid building that already exists, convert it properly, and hold the cost down without ever holding the quality down.

Well-built

Every conversion is built by our own general contractor, M Nickerson General Contracting — framing to finishing, done properly, with no corners cut to hit a price.

Energy-efficient

Units are built to be efficient, which lowers residents' utility bills month after month — affordability that goes well beyond the rent itself.

Dignified

Real homes, not the minimum that can be called one: full kitchens and bathrooms, a washer and dryer in every unit, accessible layouts, and buildings a community is glad to keep.

Schools → homes Churches → homes Halls → homes

Housing at the lowest cost possible, from buildings that already exist

Southwest Nova Scotia has solid old buildings — schools, halls, churches — standing empty while people look for a place to live. Schoolhouse Rocks brings the two together: we buy structures that have outlived their first purpose and convert them into affordable rental homes, at the lowest cost possible without ever building cheap.

Lower cost by design

Starting from a standing structure costs less than building new, and that saving is what makes genuinely affordable rents possible — affordability built into the project, not stripped out of it.

Less waste

Repurposing an existing building keeps its materials in service and reduces the environmental impact of new construction.

Cheaper to live in

Units are built energy-efficient, which lowers residents' utility costs month after month — affordability that goes beyond the rent itself.

The owners

Three partners — a developer, a builder, and a technologist — who saw the same thing in an empty schoolhouse: not a teardown, but homes.

Founder & CEO

Robert Pinkley

Robert founded Schoolhouse Rocks after more than twenty years in development, most recently with Telus Development / Leader Block Properties. His Leader Block project in Ferndale, Washington delivered 12 affordable units plus ground-floor retail — the same playbook he is now running in southwest Nova Scotia: take a building with a past and give it a future as affordable homes.

  • Master's degree, University of Pittsburgh
  • Formerly with the U.S. Department of Commerce
  • Served on Ferndale, Washington city council
  • 20+ years in development — Telus Development / Leader Block Properties
  • Leader Block, Ferndale WA: 12 affordable units + retail
Co-founder & COO

Morgon Nickerson

Morgon is the builder behind every Schoolhouse Rocks conversion. As owner of M Nickerson General Contracting, he leads the crews that do the work — the framing, drywall, roofing, and finishing that turn a school or a church hall into homes, and the reason "affordable" here never has to mean "cheap."

Co-founder & CTO

Jeff Nickerson

Jeff is Morgon's father and the third partner in the founding team — a carpenter and consultant who spent more than twenty years as a technology executive before turning that experience to housing. He also serves on the board of the Villagedale Community Association.

Our projects

Three buildings, three second lives — two completed, one on the way.

Port LaTour

Completed 2024

The former Port LaTour Consolidated Elementary School. Built in 1956 and closed in 2000, the school sat empty for more than two decades before Schoolhouse Rocks purchased it in the spring of 2023.

The conversion kept the building's bones — and its place in the community — and turned more than 8,000 square feet into 15 affordable one- and two-bedroom homes on the coast. Four of the units are wheelchair-accessible, every unit has its own washer and dryer, and the back-wall units have small decks. A community garden is planned for the grounds.

Units
15
Layouts
1 & 2 bedroom
Accessible units
4 wheelchair-accessible
Building size
8,000+ sq ft
Originally built
1956, as a school
Purchased
Spring 2023

The transformation

Told the way it happened — step through the timeline and the picture changes with each stage, from the school's first decades to the homes it is today.

Archival black-and-white photograph titled Port La Tour Elementary School, Shelburne County, N.S., with children standing on the front steps
The school in its school days: Port La Tour Elementary School, Shelburne County, N.S., with children on the front steps — the building as generations of local kids knew it.

Amiraults Hill

All units occupied

Another former school, another second life. Schoolhouse Rocks acquired the former school at 2857 Amirault's Hill on June 28, 2024, and converted it into six homes.

All six units are occupied — six more households housed in a building the community already knew.

Units
6
Status
All occupied
Address
2857 Amirault's Hill
Acquired
June 28, 2024

Ingomar

In development

A former church and hall becomes eight homes. At 164 Black Point Road in Ingomar, Schoolhouse Rocks is converting the building into eight affordable units — two studios and six one-bedrooms.

Four ground-floor units will be wheelchair-accessible. Completion is targeted for late 2027.

Units
8
Layouts
2 studio + 6 one-bedroom
Accessible units
4 ground-floor, wheelchair-accessible
Address
164 Black Point Road, Ingomar
Completion target
Late 2027
Original use
Church / hall

Partner with us

Every project starts with an unusual building and the right partners. If your company would like to collaborate on a project, or invest in one, we'd like to hear from you — we're always looking for the next structure worth saving, and for partners who see what we see in it.

Developers

Have a conversion project of your own, or a building that doesn't fit the usual mould? We bring a proven model — and our own builder — for turning difficult structures into affordable homes.

Investors

Interested in putting capital behind affordable housing built from existing buildings? Talk with us about upcoming projects and how investment fits into them.

Housing organisations

Working on housing in your community, and sitting on — or eyeing — a school, church, or hall with no future? Let's talk about what it could become.

Start a partnership inquiry Partnership inquiries start with the contact form below — tell us what you have in mind.

“Schoolhouse Rocks: Creating affordable housing by repurposing existing structures in southwest N.S.”

SaltWire — by Kathy Johnson, April 4, 2024

Read the story on SaltWire

Contact

Schoolhouse Rocks Inc.

716 Villagedale Road
Barrington, NS  B0W 1E0

Our conversions are built by M Nickerson General Contracting. For partnership and collaboration inquiries, reach us at the address above and tell us about your project.

Rental inquiries

Our rentals are managed by Carla Lee Property Management. For questions about renting a Schoolhouse Rocks home, please reach out through Carla Lee Property Management on Facebook.

Send us a message

Fill in the form and we'll open your email app with your message addressed to us — ready for you to send.

Submitting opens your email app with this message addressed to info@schoolhouserocks.ca — nothing is sent until you press send there.