This West Side brick beauty, located at the corner of Rhode Island and 15th Street is turning out to be a real eye-catcher. Building owners Paul Lamparelli, Jocelyn E. Gordon, Charles Gordon, and Kevin Helfer first tackled the upper three floors of the building, and now construction has started on the first floor commercial space. Owners purchased the building for $130,000.
The circa-1895 12-unit building is now set to be a cornerstone of the neighborhood, where it was once a real eyesore. This particular building had been through one or two ownership transitions over the last ten years before this current team of owners picked it up. Many people in the neighborhood did not think that the structure would stand much longer, if help didn’t come to the rescue. Seeing a parking lot at this corner would have been a real travesty for the West Side.
Aside from this building, there are still numerous boarded up first floor properties on the city’s West Side, many of which look like they housed commercial storefronts or pubs. It would be great to see some more of these types of commercial spaces, located within residential neighborhoods, freed up for entrepreneurs looking for opportunities. These are the types of projects that can jumpstart street and neighborhoods.
While this particular building is strategically located in close proximity to Five Points, there are others that could act as game changers if somehow the owners would recognize the prime opportunities.