A former banquet hall at the corner of West Ferry and Herkimer is getting a significant makeover, and will soon be opened as La Gourmet Empanadas.
This is a significant development for the West Side, considering the deplorable condition the building was in (at least on the outside). Actually, I assumed that the old Mount Major Banquet Hall would eventually fall into a state of disrepair that would be too forgone to make a comeback.
Fortunately I was wrong, and the building, which is over 10,0000 square feet in size, is being given a renewed lease on life. New windows are being installed, and the brickwork has been painted (all one color tone).
According to Loopnet, the banquet hall boasts a restaurant space and a banquet hall. Buffaloah.com lists the architect as Thomas W. Harris – “Built as Mizpah Lodge #518 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF)”. It is said that this was once a three-storey building. The building is located across the street from a Hope refugee drop-in center (part of Jericho Road), which is another anchor on the street. This news bodes well for West Ferry – a street that has a ton of potential that never gets realized.
La Gourmet Empanadas | 219 West Ferry | Website