The Monroe building: From showing cars to selling LPs to renting apartments (2024)

Work by BRD Construction is nearly completed on the $8.4 million redevelopment of the former Record Theatre complex into a new mixed-use residential and retail project, with the first new apartments ready for rent as of June 1.

About 20 months after kicking off construction on the adaptive-reuse venture, the five partners from Common Bond Real Estate, Urban Vantage and Preservation Studios are finishing up their effort to restore and revive the buildings at 1786 Main St. and 1040 Lafayette Ave., which had originally been a car dealership when they were built in the 1920s.

Located at the corner of Main Street and Lafayette Avenue, the vacant 34,000-square-foot complex consisted of four properties and structures. Formerly known as the Monroe Building, the primary building at 1786 Main was originally an automobile showroom for Monroe Motor Car Co. and others, before it became a well-known music store for several decades under former Record Theatre ownerLeonard Silver.

Now redubbed "The Monroe," it will feature 17 workforce housing units, affordable for households earning less than 80% of the area median income, as well as 11,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

The development team– whichincludes Jason Yots of Common Bond, Richard Rogers and Travis Gordon of Urban Vantage and Derek King and Michael Puma of Preservation Studios– had originally planned to renovate the buildings into an entirely commercial project, but switched to housing after Covid-19 threw the retail and office markets into disarray.

Their intention was to create 20 market-rate apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space, using historic tax credits to finance the conversion. But the numbers still didn't work out, and one of the secondary properties – at 1798 Main, adjacent to School 17 – wasn't eligible for historic credits. So they sold 1798 Main, dropped three apartments, and opted for workforce housing so they could obtain affordable housing tax credits from the state.

The 14 one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments will range in size from 491 to 1,256 square feet, with an average rent of $1,250, but a range of $825 to $1,750. Four leased commercial spaces will open this summer, while two commercial spaces remain available. Signed commercial tenants will include:

The project is financed by $2.95 million from the Community Preservation Corp., with an additional $850,000 in support from New York Homes and Community Renewal, as well as a $750,000 grant from Empire State Development Corp. through the Better Buffalo Fund. The project also received $2 million in state and federal historic tax credits.

A paint job

An Olean-based national painting and coating contracting firm specializing in the oil-and-gas industry is trying again to expand its operation to a new site in Cattaraugus County to support its growth and demand, after it tackled the environmental cleanup of another property prior to constructing its new facility.

First, though, it had to complete that costly remediation of the vacant polluted site through the state's Brownfield Cleanup Program. And it is now getting $123,750 in tax breaks from the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency over 14 years to support the $1.73 million project, which was originally approved in late 2021.

M.J. Painting Contractor Corp. wants to construct a new 8,256-square-foot operation at 350 Franklin St. in Olean, using a 9.34-acre industrial-zoned property that it purchased in March 2018 for $233,500. The new facility– which is reduced from an original plan of 15,000 square feet– will include two mechanic bays, a truck wash bay, six storage bays, a salt-storage building, a fuel station and an office and storage building.

The company, owned by Michael J. John, also plans to purchase and install an air intake system and air purifying system, sponge-blasting equipment, a compressed-air system, a heavy-duty telescoping forklift, and other office, locker room and HVAC equipment "to keep up with the day to day operations," it said in its tax break application.

M.J. Painting offers interior and exterior painting for industrial complexes and commercial buildings across the country, and applies specialized coatings for pipes and equipment used by the renewable energy, oil and natural gas industries. It currently has a 6,000-square-foot blasting and coating facility at 291 Homer St. in Olean for special-coating and blasting projects, and even provides exterior regional church and hotel painting.

Besides New York, the family-owned company works in Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the oil and natural gas regions of Marcellus-Utica and Anadarko Woodford Shale. It employs 40.

The project is expected to be completed by the first or second quarter of 2025.

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The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.