Mark Croce is at it again. One week after breaking ground on his largest development to date, the businessman purchased a half-acre, 73 space parking lot on Wednesday. 125 Scott Street, midway between the Canal Side development and the casino, was purchased from Ann and June Demopoulos. Croce’s Skydeck Corporation paid $300,000 for the property.
Last week, Croce started work to convert the Curtiss Building at Huron and Franklin streets into a 57-room boutique hotel. Croce owns a number of bars and restaurants on Franklin Street and has a number of surface parking lots primarily near the Theater District and Chippewa Street. The Scott Street purchase is Croce’s first in the Cobblestone District.
Croce is counting on continued investment in the neighborhood. Bass Pro and Canal Side is inching towards construction. While work has stalled on the permanent casino complex, the Seneca Nation just announced a 200-slot machine expansion of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. Other nearby investment includes a multi-building redevelopment along Mississippi Street by Avalon Development and Savarino Cos., the pioneering Lofts @ Elk Terminal, The Cooperage adaptive reuse project by Clint Brown, and Ellicott Development’s makeover of the Fairmont Creamery.
Croce says he has no immediate plans for the site. “It is a vacant piece of land that will provide an opportunity to do something in the future,” he says. “There has been a lot of activity in that end of town.”