On the Market: 192 Seneca Street

well one thing is for sure, replacing that blank brick wall with restored windows would go along way to making the neighborhood look less forboding and more friendly.

Maybe they can sandblast or pressure wash that aweful red brick paint off to reveal the real brick underneath.

I wonder if there was a cornice at the roofline which was common at the time the building was constructed.

That part of Seneca needs more surface parking lots. Won't sell unless more parking becomes available.

Maybe the awful tarred sidewalk (which they redid last year!) can be taken up to create a better neighborhood feel. I frequent this store and think it's the best plumbing store around, but the decision to tar the sidewalk was tragic.

Looking on google street maps, it appears that the red paint and covering the windows is relitively new.

When is it ever a good idea to paint over brick?

You would think that if they were thinking about selling that they would have kept the windows and figured out a temporary way of sealing them off.

The building would have been a hell of a lot more attractive in its pre red and windowed state.

I would think that an industrial company that has a need for some offices and a small warehouse AND a willingness to redevelop the building would find this a suitable location. But even more tempting in my opinion is the group of 3 buildings at 136 Seneca Street (where the United Loan Jewelry store is), right before the underpass. Does anybody know the status of these buildings (i.e. are they for sale, are they already slated for re-hab, etc.)? It's so close to Coca-Cola Field (or whatever they're calling the baseball diamond these days) that I'd guess it would be a prime location for redevelopment. Architecturally, the buildings have a lot of character and there seems to be a large parking lot associated with it. Somebody should look into this opportunity.

And also, I'm confused. Is this an article about the building on 192 Seneca Street and its' potential for redevelopment, or a paid sales listing by Chris Malachowski of Hunt Commercial? Because it looks like a sales listing to me. And another thing, I wonder who thought that asphalting over the sidewalk and painting the building brimstone red would increase the value of a building promoted as a redevelopment project? And what year did the windows disappear?

Maybe the asking price for this building is so high, because they don't really want to sell it. Maybe this is all just a ploy to demonstrate that the building is unsaleable. Then they'll board this one up too and then petition City Hall to reassess the property to a negative value. It worked to lower the tax bill on the Statler and might work for Hotel Lafayetter as well.

mr. gorbachev, unbrick those windows!

oh, and chris, some brick is designed to be painted over, though in this case it is no improvement.

I believe it was in 2006 that Google was in WNY, and
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all bricks have to breathe in order to last. A stain is ok--never paint, and
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while quality cement might last for 20 years without any protective coating,(especially in the long-gone days when cement was intentionally developed to last,) now what is poured is done *DS), won't the present owners or any future owners now have to seal in that asphalt walkway at least every two years? Going with *DS is always cheaper and is a responsibility-acceptance escape route...
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On Feb. 10th, 2010, WCPerspective did an article here titled First Home Sold at St. Stanislaus Gardens. The *DS sidewalk and driveway are visible. (Why was that topic shut down?)
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*Deliberately Slipshod.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that Statler building!

Actually painting brick dates back to Asia Minor when the Canadians use to paint brick as a means of fertizlizing soil to extract minerals such copper, iron and ore. It is called brick cropping. I think there is a festival in early spring somewhere in Manitoba to celebrate brick painting, it's called, Paint the Brick and Feed the Soil"