In order to mix it up and keep track of different neighborhoods, occasionally I try to tag along with my wife when she’s out running errands. The reasoning behind this is that it gives me a chance to walk our dog in places that make walks more interesting. I figure that if I drive her for groceries, for example (as she is a chef – and we are a one-car family at this point), then I’ll make the best of our time all the way around.
This morning when she went to Tops on Niagara Street to stock up on some groceries, I took our dog for a walk around the neighborhood. We headed down Prospect Avenue, towards Downtown. Even though I’ve walked this neighborhood plenty of times, each time is an eye-opener. Today was no different.
One of the things that I noticed on our walk, was the number of beautifully maintained gardens that have sprung up over the past few years. That, and the mix of attractive housing stock. There are awesome historic houses and apartment buildings, combined with a number of varying newer model homes, that all appear to work well together. I spoke to one gentleman who was sitting on the porch of an attractive brick house (not pictured), after he commented on my dog. In turn I asked him about his house, which he proudly replied, “Yup, next year it will be paid off. I bought it 29 years ago – it was built during the Griffin administration.” What struck me about the house, and others like it on the street was, they didn’t decimate a street to build the homes. Rather they chose to selectively and carefully infill the blocks with homes that paid respect to the existing housing stock. The decision has paid off, because to the untrained eye it’s hard to tell what’s historic and what’s not.
Which leads me to the real reason that I even embarked upon this post. With news of Niagara Street being revitalized with needed infrastructure improvements, and a neighborhood that has unlimited potential that can easily be seen, what’s the story with the corner of Prospect and Virginia?
Smack dab in the middle of all of the houses and gardens, a couple of blocks from Tops, one block in from Niagara Street, close to Downtown and a short distance to Allentown, sits a large, vacant, boarded up apartment building that looks to be in overall solid shape. This building has been boarded up for years, and quite honestly reeks of potential.
This could be a huge anchor for the neighborhood instead of looking like a boarded up eyesore. Talk about potential.
So, what’s the story on this missed out opportunity – does anyone know how we can get this building into the right hands? This building has always been a mystery, and I’m sure that there’s some crazy story about a landlord, or The City, or some other reason that no one has moved forward on this property. Maybe if we can start a conversation and shed some light on this, then we can get the ball rolling in the right direction.