A Cobblestone District commercial building has a new owner. J. Roger Trettel’s 1876 Buehl Block LLC purchased the two-story brick building at 49 Illinois Street last Monday. Roger has two property renovations under his belt downtown- the Buehl Block and adjacent 285 Ellicott Street. Plans for the property located behind HSBC Arena and Buffalo Rising’s offices are not set but Trettel reportedly is not likely to convert the 8,888 sq.ft. property to residential use.
Trettel undertook a meticulous $1 million+ renovation to the Buehl Block Building, a circa-1875 structure located at the corner of Broadway and Ellicott Street. The four-story brick and mansard roofed structure contains five two and three-bedroom loft apartments and ground floor retail/office space. The two-story Stanford Building adjacent to Buehl at 285 Ellicott has been converted to loft-style office space.
Buehl Block, Broadway @ Ellicott
In August 2007, Trettel purchased the beautiful, four-story, skylight-topped Charlie Baker Building at 99-101 Genesee Street from longtime owner Williard Genrich. Trettel was planning to convert the properties into a mix of commercial and residential space. He later sold the properties to CityView Properties and the Wendt Foundation which purchased the balance of the block from Genrich. Restoration of the long-vacant block is expected to begin within 60 days.
The ‘small’ projects are incrementally making a ‘big’ difference. Welcome to Cobblestone Roger.