Ellicott Development is not wasting any time on its renovations to 478 Main Street. The developer is converting office space on the top floors of the former Hens & Kelly Department Store to 28 apartments and undertaking significant façade changes including bringing windows back to the first two floors of the building.
Ellicott has leased 15,000 sq.ft. of office space on the second floor to the U.S. Social Security Administration to anchor the building. The agency will relocate from 186 Exchange Street in the spring.
The circa-1925 building was designed by architects Bley and Lyman. The Hens & Kelly store closed in 1982. In 2018, the Erie County Department of Social Services decided to shift 400 workers from downtown to the AppleTree Business Park in Cheektowaga opening up the building for other uses.
Carmina Wood Morris, with offices across Main Street from the project, is architect.
