Buffalo Rising Online

More good news for allentown...

...and think of the decorating possibilities being so close to the dollar store!

Kinda creepy moving into a former burial supply place. But the stuff from the dollar store should cheer it up! Watch - My wife will want to move there. I do like the building.

Love this building, but I always see the Yorktown Casket trucks in the driveway and parking area. Is the company moving? Or were they just not using this building?

great location to live

speaking of dollar store, noticed a new one coming in on Grant street near Breckingridge....but this one has red lettering so I'm thinking it must not be affiliated with the other chains. How many of these stores can this neighborhood support.....apparently one more.

The occult thrives in Allentown. This will go over big I am sure.

great building, great location!

Dumb Jeff - there are 3, count 'em 3, dollar type stores on grand island. They all carry pretty much the exact same stuff. 2 in the same plaza. Go figure.

Thank you WCP you always have alot of info to share :o)

Was just by this bldg. a few weeks ago and though it would make a great place to live. Lemmie guess though, more rentals. How bout some options to purchase?

Yes PauldubOe the birthplace of iFun Wow!i is a very strange place.

This is good news, not only for Allentown, but for all downtown residents. Every time another building is converted into residential space, and the number of us downtown city dwellers increases, the more likely it is that more retail will follow. (And the dollar store is not the kind of retail I'm talking about.) We're building critical mass downtown by increasing the number of people who spend their evening and every-day lives in the city. One building at a time adds up to hundreds of new residents every year.

PS- Do you think they'll remove the title of the company, "National Casket Company" from above the front door? (see picture 1) And do you think they'll call this the "National Casket Company Building?"

If Yorktown moves to the 'burbs, this will be a mixed blessing. Might be nice if they could remain on the first floor & the rest of the building becomes residential.

A few points.

The dollar store at Virginia and Elmwood has a black and white sign because the Preservation Board required them to during their permit process.

This is a great location for residential conversion, BUT the plan that has been proposed is not good for the building or the neighborhood's character. Windows and doorways (including the front door) will be enlarged, moved, closed up (including the front doo), completely altering the look of the building.

And please, before you post a comment about elitist preservationists killing the city, consider this. The building was under preservation protection when it was bought by the current developer, and the GraniteWorks which is great from a preservation standpoint is being very well received with leases being signed virtually everyday. So, the owners should have known what they were getting into, and if they did the project the right way they would still have a very viable project.

I would also note that while it's easy to make fun of the dollar stores, there are still elderly people without cars and people of limited means in Allentown who rely on the dollar store for basic supplies.

Finally, Yorktowne is still in operation at the building, but they use it primarily, if not exclusively, as a warehouse where large trucks from the factory unload and smaller ones go out to funeral homes. They will probably end up in some corregated metal warehouse in an industrial park somewhere.

Charger - I didn't see anything about elitism. Was it deleted? I make frequent trips to our dollar store(s). No one is really busting on them. Caskets are a delicate commodity, believe it or not. The warehouse better have some climate control. Some of the finer woods do not hold up well to the weather. (My brother used to deliver them). I do find this an interesting building in its current configuration.

Much like the caskets that were in the building, I think people will be "dying" to get in there.

Actually it shouldn't be too creepy, since I assume the caskets were stored and sold there and the actual contact with the dead was at the funeral home. I've always admired that building during Allentown and it's a great location.

It would be interesting if they keep the sign on the building. It gives a sense of the layering of time and use of the place. Developers like catchy marketing names. In the burbs names are usually based on the things they are destroying like forests and streams. ex "the Oaks at Streamwood Pointe"

This could be called Coffin Lofts or how 'bout this marketing phrase....Coffin Lofts, the perfect place to rest your weary bones. If you arrive home dead on your feet from a long day's work, this is the palce for you. Coffin Lofts...your ultimate destination.

Steel, you are dreary and witless, as usual.

kissling does alot of talking, ill beleive it when i see it

Mullets, is the "I'll beleive (believe) it when I see iti comment supposed to be a reality check or an infusion of a pessimistic viewpoint into the discussion ( a viewpoint that so many in WNY have about the city). I check this site out daily. .and since moving here from the extremely quickly growing west coast am still to this day impressed with what is happening in this city to turn it around. I understand that having lived here for a while and seeing decades of inaction in the improvement of the city one can have acquired such perspective, however THINGS are changing everyday, new projects announced constantly, buildings being rehabbed and built everywhere. Soooo...how about looking at these changes and being a bit more positive.... I expect a post stating that "I believe it now" once there is a project update on this :).

I'll believe it when STEEL tells me to.

Oh, I already believe it, MBNY! :) A lovely building, and a nice neighborhood - I bet it'll sell without a problem .

MBNY, relax. What im saying is that Kissling A. does not own the building, B. will have to go through months or years of Historic b.s. to renovate to lofts, and C. has no track record of converting any spaces, he is an apartment owner and a pretty bad one at that. So calm yourself and see it from the reality point of view not this overly optimistic stars in the eyes for more rental "lofts" (which are really apartments). Not a single condo project yet...no ownership=no interests.

lets not forget the Grand Plans Kissling had for the Calumet Building...all talk no action.

SIDWAY STILL HASNT SOLD.

Steel, was your statement concerning naming of burbs athinly veiled reference to the developer on grand Island that completely stripped an area of trees and called it "Majestic Woods"? ( I think Lori likes you).

The process of getting preservation Board (and, if necessary SHPO) approval can be long and drawn-out, or quick and straightforward. It's up the developer to decide how it's going to be. The preservation guidelines are pretty clear and architects who are familiar with them should have no trouble getting a project approved. The problem comes when people try to do things that aren't allowed under the rules.

Planning, Zoning, and Preservation statutes are there to protect the investment of the entire community. Property ownership comes with a responsibility to understand what can reasonably be done with one's property. If you want to do something outside those reasonable bounds then you're the one slowing everything down, not the system.

I just moved to the city from OP and rent from Kissling, TERRIBLE, been a nightmare. but I lOVE being in the city

Woo Hoo! Another old building being gutted and renovated for transients... for renters. Downtown real estate... dead dead dead. Few or no housing options for buyers, for people with down payment checks in hand, ready to make an investment in a new place to live and have a stake in the so called "New Buffalo".

So will this be subsidized for low income tenants, like the place on Washington? Need to save a bit on the renovation Mr. Developer? Then just install flimsy windows... your clients can queue up at the Rath Building for those HEAP vouchers.

I feel a Steven King movie in the making!

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Now I know what the others were saying about Lori - and they were correct.

Lori - stuff it!

The Casket Company is moving to the Pierce-Arrow building in Buffalo.

They're staying in Buffalo? Good! Andrew, you are such a ray of sunshine!

Cant make over 29,000 per year to live in the "subsidized" lofts... What a joke, our "lofts" aka apartments, are subsidized to stimuale fake growth...again just more money going between a few hands...no new money at all Kinda like the restaurants here in Buffalo!

you can build all the lofts your want in Buffalo, but the reality is, the "apartments" will not bring new jobs or new people to downtown Buffalo.

Yes, it is yet another ploy for developers and the county to take state and federal money as grants to build cheap subsidized lofts.

Yes, there are a few little projext planned here and there that usually move at a snails pace, but the real possibility of bringing a major corporation here with real jobs and real income is slim to none.

Same money exchanging hands, will ulitmately do nothing for the downtown.

Waterfront is beautiful and needs to be developed - then you will see progress.

Being broke with bad hair does not attract visitors to downtown.