Another Early Morning Fire On Elmwood
After spending a good part of the summer watching the aesthetic improvements being added to Parish Commons (corner of Elmwood and West Ferry), it only took a fire to take them all away. At 2am this morning a fire blazed through the building (starting in the attic) destroying a good part of the interior. The glass surrounding the stairway is smashed, the roof is destroyed, and there is extensive smoke and fire damage. I had the chance to talk briefly with Dr. Mike Calabrese who was visibly shaken by the ordeal. As he discussed with his patients (who were arriving for their appointments ) what they should do in the meantime, he had time to tell me that there were no clues yet as to what started the fire. I inquired whether the building was salvageable and he shook his head and said that no one knew for sure. To the untrained eye, the structure looks like it's still in good shape.
It was a sad sight to see today because Parish Commons had come such a long way this past summer. The gold lettering had gone up around a number of cosmetic renovations to spruce up the former church-turned-offices. In recent years there was a big push to fill the spaces with everything from medical related businesses to health related businesses like Bikram Yoga.
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UnionAMG
This was horrible news to wake up to this morning. I never took much notice of this building until this past weekend, as I was driving by Saturday morning I took a hard look at it and thought how great it looked. It was such a great re-use of an old church. Really sad to see this happen... hopefully its salvageable and Dr. Calabrese won't lose all of the hard work he's put into it!
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Willie1
The first thing to do, is get Thomas Kiener, PE, President of Jansen-Kiener Consutling Engineers, to do a walk-thru. Tom's an expert in fire-damaged buildings. Then with a Structural Engineer, develop a stabilization plan, get the insurance company to fund. Keep the elements out, while the repair, restoration, & renovations plans & insurance negotiations happen. KEEP THE ELEMENTS OUT. After fire department inspections, and insurance incpections, then get all the debris out, clean as thorougly as possible. To often, while the insurance stuff happens, which can be slow, the wet debris is left in place and does further damage. Good Luck & can't wait to the the building come back to life even better !!!
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Denizen
Horrible. I could see out my apartment window as all the firetrucks were converging down the street, those flames were intensely shooting up from the third floor of the old church. I'm scratching my head as to what could have possibly started the blaze.
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Andrew
What a shame. I love this building, i hope the insurance money comes in and its returned to how it was just a few days ago
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sbrof
shame.. the good thing is stone doesn't burn so maybe it can just be a gut and rebuild and perhaps better than before with an interior that better accommodated the needs of the tenants. That is to say if the insurance company doesn't screw them over by saying this was done because of Heat and not Fire.. like how the flooding in New Orleans magically because a "storm surge" and not a flood. Good luck! This could have a silver lining and become and opportunity depending on the finances of the owner.
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Denizen
^ Actually, the building is brick, take a look at the sides and back.The stone is just a facade treatment.
With that said, the fact that this is a masonry building gives it hope for a gut and restoration. If this were a wood-frame structure (like most Buffalo buildings) It'd literally be toast from a fire that bad.
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Matthewjohnp
No, man, tear this fugly building down and put up a small condo/co-op building, about 6 - 8 stories, 4 units a floor, would fit in nicely. They would sell like hot cakes.
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BFLORome
'Mattewjohnp' ...what a thoughtless and moronic comment to maker after someone made a real investment in our Elmwood Village and made very tasteful improvements to the building.
Hopeful it can be salvaged and revamped in reasonably short order. Hang in there Dr. Calabrese!
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rcp
WHY CAN'T KFC EVER BURN DOWN? THE DIRTY RATHOLES NEVER BURN
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Frankster
For what it's worth, I happened to pass by with a professional contractor and old building expert who looked at it and said it looked like an easy, straightforward roof repair. The fire didn't even destroy the rafters. It needs tarps right away to keep the elements out but I'd question the motives of anyone who claims it's too far gone.
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RisingDamp666
In answer to your query, rcp, KFCs do burn down...in places like India and Turkey resulting in death or injury to hundreds. Our KFCs are much more stubborn in this regard owing to the liberal use of fire-retardent in the Colonel's "Secret Recipe". One solution to this dilemma is to locate more of the fried chicken establishments in College neighborhoods and hope that their NCAA football or basketball teams win a national championship.
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Martin
damn pity
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fill
I was speaking to the private fire investigator who was on the scene and who told me that the cause of the fire was a pellet stove in the yoga studio which was kept much warmer than the rest of the building. He also said that much of the cement work (including window frames) in the main part of the building was ruined by the heat and that restoration would be very expensive indeed.
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tudorguy
A perfect spot for that hotel that couldn't happen on Elmwood and Forest...
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Loyarc
Dr. Calabrese is a great guy, It's a terrible shame. I hadn't kept up with his recent improvements, but by the photos, looked great. I'm an expat who works in primary care - the type of care Dr. Calabrese provides - and physicians like him are more than just doctors to their patients.
I encourage BRO to keep everyone posted on his next steps. Hopefully he can turn this tragedy for the better.
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Biniszkiewicz
What irony that the yoga place resulted in bad karma for the building. Real shame. It's hard to make old churches work as new incarnations, even in a neighborhood like this. Hope it is brought back soon.
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rcp
75% of Liberals blame Bush for this fire
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Frankster
75% of BRO readers blame rcp for stupidity.
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rcp
Just because one dislikes liberals does not mean they are stupid.
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Sal
What a shame - fortunately no one was hurt in this fire. The building was just starting to realize it's potential also. Keep in mind that it was sold last year for $775,000 which was a far cry from when Fleet Bank was stuck with it back in 1995, losing more than $460,000 by the time it was sold again in 1997. It would be nice to keep the facade up and create more parking if and when it is rebuilt.
Can anyone explain why the city only assesses it at $364,200 when the transfer in 2004 was at $635,000 and in 2006 was at $775,000?
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Biniszkiewicz
Sal: with regard to assessment, city hall doesn't routinely change assessements every time a property sells. I think there's a law against only changing the assessment on pieces as they are sold, but not anything else of comparable value. It stops the tax burden from falling unfairly on the shoulders of the new buyer on the block. If you'd kept your house for forty years, you'd be paying taxes on an assessment from 40 years ago, but your neighbor would be paying on today's value. i think that's the theory. (California, because of proposition 13, taxes exactly this way. You could be paying one tenth the taxes your neighbor pays just because you've lived there since the 1970s and they just moved in).
In reality, this building is unique enough that there's no reason not to assess at current market value every time it sells. You wouldn't have to re-evaluate the whole neighborhood; this building is different. Whatever it sells for, that's the value.
Much as everyone on this site will hate to hear it, the parking shortage Sal references is the big reason it's hard to fill this building and the big reason for the perennially low sale price. I don't see any parking solution. At least it has some parking. Pity the buses run so infrequently. If they ran every five minutes like they did back in the day I'd take them. I won't wait at a bus stop for a half hour. That's not happening. And I won't tailor my trips to suit the bus schedule. If the bus isn't there when I want it, I'm driving. That's just the way it is.
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LivingForge
Ahh wonderful pronoun ambiguity! Since you constructed this sentence this way you leave open multiple meanings. I'll infer you meant that just because someone thinks liberals are stupid, it doesn't mean that liberals are stupid.
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MissingMaine
I suspect that the pellet stove was most likely not installed to code. If so, whoever installed it should be held legally responsible for the fire. What a shame, such a beautiful building, too. Keep an eye on this story, folks. I think it might get interesting...
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