SYRACUSE — When Joseph Crabbe and his business partner, Rosario Amato, first purchased the old Howard & Jennings pump factory building at 123-129 E. Willow St. in downtown Syracuse several years ago, the plan was to open a restaurant there.

The pair already operate eight Original Italian Pizza (OIP) restaurants, but ultimately steered away from their restaurant plans for the building with the nearby I-81 viaduct project and increasing costs as key factors.

“We ended up switching gears,” Crabbe says of their plans. “It became too overwhelming to do what we wanted to do.” They pivoted and opted to renovate the 1879 building into ground-floor commercial space and four apartments upstairs.

Once home to the Colella Galleries antique store, the building has quite a history, according to a collection of newspaper clippings and information amassed by Crabbe. Designed by architect Charles E. Colton, the building became a concern to the city in 1971 when bricks fell from the front of the building. Nicholas Collela renovated the building in the early 1970s, and then renovated it again after a 1975 explosion on the 200 block of North Salina Street damaged the building. The building’s fourth floor was destroyed in the blast and wasn’t rebuilt.

Crabbe says they needed to make sure the building, which still boasts two of its original three rooftop gargoyles, was historically restored when they started the project.

“We ended up gutting the entire place,” he says. The business partners spent a total of $1.9 million to purchase and renovate the building. The end result is Willow 123 Lofts — four luxury apartments and 3,000 square feet of commercial space.

The apartments range from about 1,450 square feet to just over 1,600 square feet for the penthouse unit. Each unit has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 12-foot ceilings. Three units showcase the original wood-support beams of the building. The penthouse includes a mezzanine level and a rooftop terrace. All of the units feature granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances, and parking is available.

The goal, Crabbe says, was to build the kind of apartment he would want to live in.

“I fell in love with the project,” he adds.

While leasing the apartments was fairly easy, Crabbe says he’s having a harder time leasing the commercial space. It isn’t due to lack of interest, he notes, but because he’s being picky about what type of business goes into the space.

“I think it would make a great café,” he says. An office or even retail space would also be a good fit, considering the tenants up above.

Crabbe is ok being patient and waiting for the right tenant for the space, especially with the I-81 project looming.

“When the 81 project is done, that building is going to be on a great corner,” he notes.       

SYRACUSE — The Allyn Family Foundation hopes to begin renovation work inside the Chimes building at 500 S. Salina St. in Syracuse during the first quarter of 2024 and complete the project in about 15 months.

That’s according to Meg O’Connell, executive director of the Allyn Family Foundation, who spoke with CNYBJ in an Aug. 7 telephone interview. 

The foundation, which is made up of members of the Allyn family, awarded a grant of $8.2 million to a nonprofit it set up, called SEED Syracuse, that handled the purchase. SEED is short for Social Equity Economic Development. The building acquisition closed on July 14. 

Plans call for renovating the Chimes building into 150 mixed-income units with additional retail and office space on the first and second floors.

“Our work with the Salt City Market’s 26 mixed-income apartments showed us that there is a major need for quality, affordable housing in Downtown Syracuse,” the Allyn Family Foundation said in a July 19 Facebook post.

The 152,000-square-foot structure has 12 floors. O’Connell also notes that the building does have a 13th floor on the top, which basically functions as an office and nothing more.

The Chimes building is listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. The previous owner had secured some historical tax credits and started work on completing two phases of renovation work. Even though the owner was awarded the credits, they were never used, according to O’Connell.

“The time has lapsed now. We’re new owners, so we have to go through this whole process [to secure the credits again],” says O’Connell. “We have already put out an RFP [request for proposals] for architectural services and we hope to have an architect on board by mid-September.” 

The Allyn Family Foundation will also issue an RFP for a general contractor later this fall, she adds. 

O’Connell went on to say that in the time that the Salt City Market has had operations, the foundation has looked at the Chimes building with “increased frustration” that the previous owner, 500 Salina Enterprises, LLC, wasn’t finishing the planned renovation work.

Chimes building interest

O’Connell thinks buying the Chimes building made “logical sense.” 

The Allyn Family Foundation has invested “a lot” into the southern end of downtown, including the creation of the Salt City Market. 

She also noted additional activity in the area, including the rebirth of the Hotel Syracuse as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, the renovation work at the Symphony Towers building next to the Marriott and across from the Salt City Market, the Centro bus hub, and the upcoming STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) school.

In her mind, it’s time to add the Chimes building to that list. 

“The Chimes building was just this iconic, beautiful, historic building that really was the anchor for downtown, the southern end,” O’Connell says.

SYRACUSE — Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh on Aug. 1 announced the completion of a road reconstruction project on South Clinton Street, converting the street from one way to two ways between West Jefferson and Taylor Streets. 

The conversion makes it easier to get around downtown Syracuse and improves safety for pedestrians and drivers, the mayor contends.

The project involved milling and paving five blocks of Clinton Street from West Jefferson to Taylor Streets. The conversion included the restriping of crosswalks to try to increase pedestrian safety, and the addition of bike lanes on both sides of the street. The project also introduced narrower north and southbound lanes as well as on-street parking in an attempt to reduce traffic speeds.

“The completion of the Clinton Street two-way conversion is welcomed by people living and working in the southern end of Downtown. By better connecting the central business district to our neighborhoods, we are continuing to activate the renaissance of Downtown Syracuse,” Walsh said in a release. “The conversion is also consistent with our Vision Zero commitment to make Syracuse a safer city for all forms of transportation.”

Mayor Walsh, in his 2023 State of the City address, outlined his commitment to making Syracuse a Vision Zero city. 

The Vision Zero Network is a collaborative, nonprofit campaign helping communities set and reach the goal of Vision Zero — eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries among all road users — while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility, according to the Vision Zero Network website.

The Vision Zero strategy is “a comprehensive approach to traffic safety that considers everything from lane widths to land use to lower speed limits,” the mayor’s release stated.