Buffalo Rising Online

Jul 24th 2008, 12:14pm By queenseyes

West Side residents, Scott Washburn and John Crawford are now in the process of purchasing 476 Rhode Island – a three storey brick building that sat a couple doors down from a controversial house that was demolished in December of '07*. The two have great hopes and plans for the building. Fortunately, if there are two people who could really pull off a job like this, it’s the same two people whose previous residence was featured on the front cover of The Garden Walk book. That house was cool… and this new residence will be off the hook. It’s situated a couple doors from Prime 490, Left Bank, Urban Roots, Gelato Ji’s, Big Orbit, and Essex Pub. This renovation of the building will go a long way to adding to the resurgence of the Essex Corners neighborhood. From Scott:

“We're really excited to be a part of what is going on in this neighborhood. It is so nice how encouraging everyone has been and we can't wait to be a part of the renaissance. We are going to build out two commercial spaces on the first floor. Actually, we have three different groups looking to do a vegetarian restaurant, and we believe that sort of business would thrive on this block. The second and third floor will both be 2,100sq.' residential lofts. We’re going to build them as green and modern as we can. The plan is to eventually take the entire building off the grid completely.

“Brad Wales is the architect. Next we're doing what we can to purchase the vacant lots on either side of us. Those would be useful for a restaurant patio and gardens. There will be a glass enclosure built on top of the roof... very cool stuff. The fire escape in the front of the building is attractive, so we’re keeping it - we'll be adding iron balconies under every window as well. The look of the building will remain very traditional with French Quarter details. The interior will be super modern, but wit intrinsic value - nothing that will not have lasting appeal. Natural materials and recycled materials will be used so that fifty years from now the space will not have to be redone again. There is a lot of infrastructural work to be done. The interior has to be completely gutted - it's totally uninhabitable at this point. The past owners have not been kind to the building - simple things like a proper roof have not been maintained. Half of the first floor is in the basement. The roof has nine layers and is braced up with poles... it's a real shame. No windows, holes in the roof, no plumbing - it's a brick shell. We're looking at a minimum of forty dumpsters of junk and scrap.”

Word on the street is that Brian Reilly has purchased the house that John and Scott were previously living in. That sale allowed the sale on Rhode Island to take place. That being the case, I think that we should all officially welcome Brian to the city.

*Remember this horror-story that we posted back in December of ’07? That was a real bummer for Rhode Island Street and the city’s West Side. The house was torn down despite a number of offers from people wanting to purchase and restore it. Many people have already forgotten that a beautiful opportunity was ever there to begin with. Fortunately we now have an exciting new development that will help to mend that West Side scar.