Slew of projects approved for downtown Albion
Businesses will upgrade buildings as part of Main St. grant
Photos by Tom Rivers – The third floor opera house at 118 North Main St. will be brought up to code in a project by Michael Bonafede and Judith Koehler.
ALBION – Contractors will soon go to work on several historic buildings in downtown Albion, giving upgrades to the exteriors that are in line with the character from a century ago while modernizing the infrastructure inside some of the structures.
The improvements are part of a $477,000 Main Street grant approved for Albion by the state in December 2011. The grant matches money by the building owners for projects. Albion Main Street Alliance is working to have the projects complete by the end of September.
The work needs to pass the state Historic Preservation Office and also the local Albion Historic Preservation Commission. SHPO has signed off on most of the work. The local commission approved a slew of projects at its meeting on Thursday.
The projects include:
114-118 North Main St., the Pratt and Day buildings owned by Michael Bonafede and Judith Koehler.
The interior of 114 North Main will have new insulation between the second and third floors, a high-energy HVAC system on the first floor, AC on the third floor and a new commercial space on the third floor. That space will have a cleaned brick wall and repointed soft mortar. The site will receive a new sanitary line, plumbing and electrical systems, and other improvements.
Vincent Navarra will replace some of the mortar at this building at 10 North Main St.
The ornamental castings on the east face will be removed, cleaned and repainted, and then reattached in their original locations. Damaged mortar on a chimney will be removed and repointed with a soft lime mortar. Some brick will be replaced. The roof line will be resealed and some portions of the roof will be sealed and coated, with repairs made to damaged sections.
The east façade at 114 North Main will be repainted on the first, second and third stories with the first and second stories repainted on the west façade.
The first floor belt courses (display areas under plate glass) will be removed and the original materials will be repaired and repainted. A cracked plate glass display window will be replaced on the east façade.
Bonafede and Koehler will replace steel shutters, replace a metal door from the rear entry with a wooden one, and put in a new door at a rear entrance that was sealed by a previous owner. The couple will also add exterior safety lighting, and complete a fire escape.
118 North Main, the site of the former opera house building, will have exterior ornamental castings cleaned and repainted. Chimneys and roofs will be repaired, and painted windows will be washed and scraped, and then repainted with two coats of paint.
Bonafede and Koehler will repair and repaint the belt courses on the first floor facades, and windows will be repaired and reglazed. A ladder for the first floor of the fire escape on the north side of the building will be added so the fire escape is complete.
The building owners also will add exterior lighting in Beaver Alley, will add 15 fire doors on the first and second floors, HVAC on the first and second floors, and a second floor performance room will be brought up to code with upgraded electrical wiring.
The third flood opera house will have the hardwood floor patched, windows stripped and repainted, stone walls repointed, and two separate electrical services installed – one for audience space and one for the stage.
10 North Main St., a building owned by Vincent Navarra, will have damaged mortar joints replaced on the west façade facing Main Street, the south façade and side facing Liberty Street. He will repoint with soft mortar.
Nathan Lyman will replace windows in his building (the one with green paint) at 51 North Main St.
18 North Main Street, a building owned by Vincent Navarra will have the existing vinyl siding replaced with steel siding. The drywall underneath will be replaced with plywood. Navarra will also remove old tile on the first and second floors and add carpet and a new air-conditioning system.
132 North Main St., a building owned by Jim Theodorakos, will be repainted and a broken window will be replaced.
138 North Main St., owned by Braunbach-DeCarlo Inc., will have a 20-year-old flat rubber roof replaced with a new one.
Five Star Bank, 102 North Main St. will be repainted and the rear entrance accessibility will be enhanced with steps and a new hand rail.
4 North Main St., the former Swan Library will replace 17 deteriorating aluminum storm windows with new ones, and will repair 15 wooden storm windows. The library will also test for asbestos in tiles on the second floor, remove it and refinish the hardwood floors underneath the tile.
51 North Main St., owned by Lyman and Lyman. Attorney Nathan Lyman will remove and restore 10 windows on the third floor, six more on the rear and will recoat the roof. Lyman will also repair the green-painted plywood panels on the first floor façade and scrape, prime and repaint the interior of the first and second floor hallways and stair treads.
59 North Main Street, owned by Corey and Marilyn Black. The owners will remove damaged mortar and repoint the south and west façades. Any damaged bricks will be replaced.
