William Paladino and Chris Jacobs aren't horsing around with their newest redevelopment project.
Paladino's Ellicott Development Co. and Jacobs' Avalon Development want to convert a former 2.5-story stable house in Allentown into 22 market-rate apartments and commercial retail space, bringing another century-old building back into use.
The $5.5 million project would renovate the Holloway Stables building, consistent with standards set by the National Park Service and the State Historic Preservation Office.
It would create 4,300 square feet of ground-floor storefront space, with 11 market-rate apartments on the first floor and another 11 on the second. The apartments would range between one and three bedrooms in size.
The developers do not yet have a tenant for the retail space, said Tom Fox, Ellicott's director of development.
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"The proposed reuse will add to the vibrancy of the Allentown Historic District," Fox wrote in a letter to the Preservation Board, which tabled the application for two weeks.
Located at 138 Allen St., the vacant brick-and-wood-frame building sits on the south side of Allen, between Delaware Avenue and Park Street. It's behind Ellicott's four-story Bellasara Apartments building at Delaware Avenue and Allen Street, and is three blocks from the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Ellicott originally bought the 0.52-acre property in July 2019 for $1.1 million because it needed extra parking for the 23-unit Bellasara. But it later brought in Jacobs – now a congressman – for the renovation project, which also includes a 20-space parking lot.
The building was constructed from 1870 to 1893, and was originally owned by C.M. Farrar, who was a partner in Farrar and Trefts, a manufacturer of engines and boilers, and the inventor of the reversible steam engine. It later housed furniture fabricator P.L.U.M. Works, Kenworth Printing Co. and Kenworthy Electronics, Bravo Rental Equipment, and Markel Electric. Prior to Ellicott, it was owned by Farnsworth Florist Properties.
The features red brick, red and black window trim, arched and round windows, and glass block. The brick is painted white in front.
Plans by TRM Architects call for both exterior and interior rehabilitation of the 44,380-square-foot building, including reopening original window openings along the building's side and rear facades that are currently blocked in. The new windows will replicate the style of remaining original windows still in the building.
The main entrance for apartment residents will be located on the Park Street side, where a small parking lot already offers secure off-street parking. Ellicott and Avalon plan to improve the lot somewhat, adding a new fence, a gate arm at the driveway and a landscape buffer along Park.
Workers will install new storefront glass on the front of the building facing Allen, to replace the existing glass block, while a new entryway will be added to the right to offer a secondary access for apartment residents.
Ellicott also sought and received permission from the Preservation Board to demolish a single-family home and garage at 190 South Park Ave., which "has been vacant for several years and has suffered substantial deterioration under the previous ownership," according to a letter to the board from Jeremy P. Wassel, Ellicott's planning and development coordinator.
Ellicott bought the property, located along the north side of South Park between Columbia Street and Michigan Avenue, in September 2020. The 2.5-story house was constructed in 1877.
There are no current plans for a new project at the site, Fox said.
Mineo & Sapio is seeking to demolish a 124-year-old residential house at 84 15th St., which it says is "too far gone to be updated," according to an application by contractor Hannah Demolition.
According to the application - which the Preservation Board tabled on April 1 - the foundation and walls are crumbling, there are holes in the roof, the chimney has collapsed into the upper floor, and the furnace and electrical are outdated.
