Things are looking up again in downtown Batavia.
A request to revise the current commercial zoning district at 97 Main St. and convert the second and third floors to residential use with the construction of four apartments is up for review during the city’s Planning and Development Committee meeting this week.
It’s set for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Board Room of City Hall.
Applicant David Rowley of VJ Gautieri Constructors has applied for a special use permit on behalf of property owner Peter Hunt.
Hunt purchased 97 Main St. in January of 2022 and listed apartments as a future goal for the property after getting lower floor renovations completed at the site at the corner of Main and Jackson streets. At the time, he said the new space will have room — an estimated couple of thousand square feet on each of three floors — for growth of personnel and offices, and an apartment on each of the second and third floors. He cited the "high ceilings and beautiful windows" that would make the property a great work and living space.
According to related agenda materials, he has requested to build two apartments on each of the second and third floors.
The meeting agenda includes a review of the application, a public hearing and discussion about the request, and action by the board. The property is currently zoned C-3, which is for commercial use, and the request is to rezone it for R-2, residential use.
There are other properties downtown that have been converted in a similar fashion, with first floors used for retail and commerce purposes and upper floors as office and residential space.
Supplemental materials for the request state that:
- One each waste and recycling totes would be provided per apartment in the alley behind the building;
- Off-street parking would be available adjacent to the intersection of Jackson and Ellicott streets in an area designated for overnight parking;
- A dumbwaiter on the south side of the building in the alley could be used for hauling up groceries and other heavy objects; and
- An entrance on Jackson Street is being updated for security.
An estimated cost of work has yet to be determined.
The second item on the agenda is a request from Brad Trzecieski, owner of 327 Ellicott St., Batavia, to make exterior alterations to his mixed-use building located within the central commercial district of the Business Improvement District on the south side of downtown.
File photo of when Hunt Real Estate celebrated its new Batavia home at 97 Main St., by Howard Owens.
