Even in its current state the beauty of this charming little commercial building shines through. It sits on the corner of Connecticut and 16th Streets. Recently, neighbors grew alarmed when its windows were removed and the building was left open to the elements. Reports are that a local mosque is the owner and that they allegedly want to have the building torn down for more parking. Neighbors complained to the city and the building was quickly sealed with plywood.
Connecticut Street has seen substantial recent growth with major new D’Youville College investment at the west and with and with new residential investment pushing from the east out of the Elmwood Village. The Horsefeather’s building just a few blocks west of this building has seen tremendous success. All of its apartments are rented and it houses one of the city’s most heralded new restaurants along with the popular winter market. Reports are that at least one business which got its start in the recently restored building will be renovating a building of its own on Connecticut for an expanded restaurant.
This little storefront building is a salvageable structure with great potential. Most of its delicate detailing remains intact. Why does everything need to be given over to cars? Parking on the street alone in this area is abundant. It is absurd to continue wrecking valuable city assets like this in a neighborhood attracting investment because of buildings like this. As I recently showed here, tremendous potential has been erased on the East Side. Has no one learned a lesson from that or from any of the myriad other empty lots demolitions and mindlessly obsessive parking creation projects?
A developer has expressed interest in buying and renovating this little building. Let’s hope the current owners see the benefit, to the city and to themselves, of saving this building and not sending it to the trash dump.
This and heading image are from Google Street View