On the Market: 385 Franklin Street
One of Allentown’s neatest buildings is on the market. 385 Franklin Street, The Florentine Professional Center, is available for lease or purchase with an asking price of $399,000. The two-story, 6,440 sq.ft. building is located at the northeast corner of Franklin and Edward streets just outside the Allentown Historic Preservation District.
The property sits one 'shovel-ready' parking lot away from the soon to be demolished circa-1867 structure at 399 Franklin. A demolition and redevelopment plan for that property has been green-lighted by the Buffalo Preservation Board.
Despite a less than stellar front addition, the 385 Franklin has loads of character and a fantastic location. The property is just one block from the rapidly redeveloping 700 and 800 blocks of Main where over 300 residences are planned or completed, two blocks from the Chippewa entertainment district and one block from Allen Street. It is ideally located for continued use as office space or a residential conversion.
Get Connected: Chris Malachowski, Hunt Commercial: 880-1914
this property is actually in the preservation district, not that it means anything any more...
I think this one has gotta go!
It blocks the view to all the parking around it. If we can get rid of it we can provide more parking for the new development . Just put up a historic steel fence so that it looks like a historic parking lot.
Steel, don't even joke. Please, someone might actually take you up on it.
I mean come on people it's obviously in the way of progress. You take down this building, and the other one near it is soon to be gone. Wow think of all that space for new development.. People will be knocking down our door to build on it ;) Plus you would then be able to see almost all the way from Edward to W. Tupper without a single building to block your view! AMAZING! What a great city!
PS there is another building on the Franklin that is all boarded up with the owner probably waiting to be able to demolish it like 399 Franklin. It is across the street from the block long mess of parking just north of Allen. Maybe we can look into this one BEFORE it is too late like 399?
PSS who doesn't like the idea of a historic parking district? Each spot can have a little plaque to tell you about how there used to be a city where you are not putting your car.
on another side note, who bought that cool little building behind it in the second picture. It has been for sale for a long time and I just noticed that the sign is gone. I always thought, if I had money, it would make a cool location for a start up archy firm.
wonder what the taxes would be if it were a parking lot???? lord knows you'd have rocks in your head to buy anything nice in Allentown right now with the predatory, anti-investment re-assesment strategy of city hall. what a joke........................Byron.... you a JOKE!!!!!! Lets see a story about the latest round of tax hikes on BR- now that would be a hard one to sugar coat.......
God forbid the city collect taxes based on the actual value of the property
Interesting how the value of an actual property can go from 68K to 125K in one year.
Mine went from $54,000 to $125,000. I purchased it 3 years ago for a figure much, much closer to the first figure. I have nothing against the city collecting taxes on actual values of property, BUT I do have a problem with them re-assessing property and coming up with ridiculous figures, betting that people won't take the time and trouble to challenge them, and helping the city of out a budget crisis. Obviously I am going to challenge mine, and I doubt I will have trouble being successful. But I have better uses in mind for my vacation days away from the office.
I really have a problem with 297k when your nextdoor neighbor is 95k or 117k............. what happened to "equalization rate" or good neighbor laws? I have lost the incentive to purchase any more property because of the fear of operating at a loss due to a tax doubling in a year. fyi..... 128k in 2005 . 250k in Jan. '06 297k in Jan '07. you're right... that's fair steele. where is my incentive to improve my next property? i know i'll be taxed for any cosmetic changes (which is illegal in NYS). maybe i'll just let the property rot and wait for it to be bulldozed. maybe all the poorly maintained property is a cause - effect relationship.....something to think about.
Don, i hear you, my assessment (off richmond near forest ) went from 76K to 97K last year, i lost my appeal. this year my assessment skyrocketed to 160K. Totally unbelievable. This year on my appeal i'm getting an attorney. Hope it'll help.
This property is amazing inside...has anyone been inside of it?
hey sbrof....that little building you asked about what bought by some guy who is a fitness trainer
41 Edward, the small building behind this one, is owned by RPB Holdings. They've owned it since 4/05 and it has been for sale, but nothing has closed if there is a deal pending for it. RPB also owns the Bodyblocks building at 496 Pearl.
I double-checked the Allentown Hist. District boundaries, and they oddly appear to exclude 385 Franklin and 41 Edward.
This building's an easy sell. Does it really need BRO's free advertising?
BRO ushould use its bully pulpit to promote the underdogs, buildings without preservation district protections, buildings with great bones underneath easily corrected cosmetic blunders, buildings east of Main, west of Richmond, or south of thre Buffalo river.
Have some candidates for posting? Please send them along. I am admittedly downtown-centric, and realtors don't contact me to put up their listings- I just keep an eye on Loopnet and other sites for interesting (primarily commercial) properties.
wcp@ssctv.net
Ask David Torke. Ask Harvey Garrett. Ask Joe Golombek. I bet they can all nominate some great underdogs.
Anyone who lets their building rot to avoid having its value rise and thereby pay more taxes has a bit of a problem.
The corner space would make for a great restaurant/cafe or unique boutique retailer. Any takers?
Has 399 Franklin really become history? Also, Spandrel, this bldg may be an easy sell but for what - more parking or a rehab?. I think that's why it's good that BRO featured it in a post and why readers should be concerned/interested.
wcp,
where are you getting your addresses from? i don't know why we have conflicting info. this document from the preservation board includes both addresses: http://www.allentown.org/AllentownHistoricRealAddresses.pdf
I has been for sale for at least a year and a half now, if it was to become parking I think it would have already happened.
I am trying to get a handle on the Buffalo real estate market. An obviously very-well-informed poster tells me that $7 million+ is a high price for a great, fully-rented building like the Sidway. This owner is asking $399K-- less than $62 per square foot-- and yet it seems to be a tough sell. And parking, parking everywhere!
To what do all these people who park in the seemingly ever-growing numbers of parking lots go? So much of the city is gone with nothing to replace it. Or do they just buy fast-food lunches, park, and sit in their cars with the heaters running looking at each other?
On my last visit to Buffalo, I walked past parking lot after parking lot less than 50% occupied. This is total insanity.
The city has the power to pass legislation that no sound building be demolished without an acceptable replacement.
Parking lot? i think this place could be something huge especially considering what 399 will do to the area after renovation is complete.
Perry .... you seen this building in person?
CLang,
Only from the exterior, recently . I seem to remember it as doctors' offices from childhood visits. Would I be pleased or disappointed with the interior? The Pizza Hut addition is too bad, buit easily reversed or made less offensive.
Oh I did not know it was built on to..I might fly in to town to take a look at it, location seems perfect.
CLang,
Perfect for what? Sounds promising. I am just a mouthy Buffalo booster, like so many on this site. Places like this will come back, because they make sense.
Preservation Ready (love the name!)
According to this map, the northeast corner of Franklin and Edward is outside of the district. How else would that crummy addition be approved- Oh, don't answer that.
http://ah.bfn.org/a/landmks/allen2.jpg
Interior pictures, from Loopnet listing, added above.
So when is 399 suppose to start renovation? I wonder what that church over there will think of that since they own that parking lot.
get rid of the addition and restore the darn building....
and stop the demolition of 399 Franklin
Re: parking lots - sorry to go off the original post - the reason the parking lots close to City Hall and the Federal Buildiing are half empty is that the drivers are using free parking in the surrounding neighborhoods, thereby also creating more parking issues as the residnets (without many driveways) cannot even park on their own streets. We also need residential parking in historic districts.
I, just had lunch with Jerry Raven who operated the coffee house back in the seventies at this location. Part of our discussion was the history of this building and the politics involved. A conversation with Jerry by a prospective buyer would be enlightening.
viking...this place was a cofee shop? wow i thought it was always lawyer and doctor offices. i saw that the owner is offering owner financing for purchase on craigslist.org...wonder what terms are.
TAXES ARE KILLING THIS CITY!!!!!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE