Add pizza to the restaurant offerings along Genesee Street. The owners of South Buffalo’s Brick Oven Bistro & Deli are leasing the ground floor of 5-7 Genesee Street fronting Roosevelt Square. The long-vacant pair of buildings is coming back to life with the restaurant planned for the ground floor and three apartments on the upper levels.
Architect/developer Steve Carmina is working with Roger Trettel, a pioneering downtown developer with other properties on the 500 block; Steven A. Carmina, an accountant; and Joe Piccone, owner of Bison Electrical Services, on the project. They purchased the properties one year ago.
The front façade of the interconnected buildings will be restored and later additions to the rear will be removed.
Two large two-story residential units, one with 1,350 sq.ft. the other with 1,650 sq.ft., are planned on the upper floors along with a one-bedroom, single-level unit with 745 sq.ft.
Demolition work is underway and construction will continue through the winter. Occupancy is scheduled for late summer.
Carmina and his wife Brenda renovated 9 Genesee Street next door as their new home. Just Fries will occupy 9 Genesee’s first floor.
The new restaurant at 5-7 Genesee has not been named yet. It will be modeled after Brick Oven Bistro & Deli located at 904 Abbott Road. The restaurant features pizza, deli sandwiches, salads, coffee, pastries, and beer and wine. Sidewalk seating and a rear patio are planned for the downtown location.
The restaurant scene along Genesee Street, the 500 Block of Main Street, and adjacent blocks is burgeoning with nineteen existing or planned restaurants.