Ellicott Development Company purchased the Cooperage complex at 55 Chicago Street today for $526,100. Clint Brown’s Newark Niagara LLC was the seller. It is unclear how much Brown will pocket from the transaction. There is a string of liens and an assigned mortgage from the Preservation League of NYS Inc. associated with the property according to County Clerk records.
Ellicott is planning a mix of uses for the site including retail space, a second location for a well-known local brewery, gymnasium with rock climbing wall, and apartments. CJS Architects is designing the project.
The E.B. Holmes Machinery Company complex seemed to have a bright future in 2005 when the site was purchased by Clinton Brown, for $30,000. In 2008, Brown announced a reuse strategy for the property and went to work on development plans. Those plans faltered while the buildings crumbled. Ellicott is planning demolish all but the 10,0000 sq.ft. Pattern Building, a two-story section at the southern end of the site, and construct additions around it. The Preservation Board signed-off on the demolition work last year.
