A small Genesee County architectural firm that was uprooted by the sudden closure of the commercial complex that housed its offices is now seeking to quickly renovate and relocate to a vacant historic house in Batavia that predates the burning of Buffalo in 1812.
The firm, smartDESIGN Architecture Pllc, has owned the 216-year-old house at 4 Mix Place since 2020, after buying it out of foreclosure when it failed to sell on the market or at public auction.
This house at 4 Mix Place in Batavia was built in 1809.
The home, a local historic landmark, had been used as a private residence since its construction in 1809, but has been vacant for years, according to the firm’s application to the Genesee County Economic Development Center for tax breaks. It was burglarized and vandalized during that period of extended vacancy, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in damage, while its assessed value fell from $285,000 in 2021 to $154,000 in 2022.
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Since purchasing the 5,508-square-foot home, the architecture firm has worked to reverse what the GCEDC referred to as a “downward spin on the assessed value.” Now, it wants to spend $480,000 to renovate the building into its new headquarters, ensuring the business stays in Batavia and preserving 12 full-time equivalent positions earning an average salary of $75,000.
But smartDESIGN said it needs tax breaks to help offset the higher construction and renovation costs. It’s asking for $109,493 in relief, including $25,600 in sales tax exemptions on the cost of construction materials of up to $320,000, a mortgage-recording tax break of $4,000 on a loan of up to $400,000, and a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes on the property that would save $79,893.
The property is currently assessed at $213,000, and officials estimate the new assessment would be $633,420 after the improvements, which are valued at $420,420. So, the firm would still pay the current property tax of $6,746 per year, plus an average PILOT payment of $5,326 over the 10-year term, before full taxes kick back in.
A public hearing was held Aug. 5, and the GCEDC is expected to take up and approve the project Sept. 4. It was already approved by the city, which also granted a special-use permit.
“The requested financial assistance is essential to the feasibility of this project and to the continued presence and growth of our firm in Genesee County,” the firm wrote in its application. “While we are committed to investing in Genesee County, the reality is that without this financial assistance, the scale of investment required to rehabilitate this particular property would likely render the project economically unfeasible.”
The firm said it bought the house five years ago “not for speculative value but because of our preference to remain in Genesee County and our desire to contribute to its revitalization.” But the imbalance between high construction costs and lower property values and potential returns on investment “creates a financial gap that the requested incentives are intended to help close.”
GCEDC noted that, while the project is retail in nature and would normally not qualify for benefits, the architectural firm provides a service that “would not be reasonably accessible” to city residents, and the project will preserve jobs. The 1.71-acre property is also located in an Opportunity Zone, and office use is “an identified redevelopment target,” GCEDC said.
Work is expected to begin immediately, with completion within seven months, targeted for March 2026.
Owned and led by Edwin E. Smart, the 21-year-old architectural firm has been located in the Harvester Center facility along with other businesses, but it was displaced when Ohio-based Amerinac Holding Corp., which purchased that building in 2021, notified tenants in late May that it needed to empty the building to undertake a full-scale redevelopment. It told tenants that their leases would expire June 30.
The building is part of a larger 29-acre complex with multiple buildings, six of which have received notices of code violations from the city. Amerinac is planning to demolish six severely deteriorated buildings and renovate the rest into a multi-use campus that officials have compared to Larkinville in Buffalo. The city even applied for a $1 million Restore NY grant to help with the project.
Koolatron Corp.’s warehouse on Commerce Drive in Batavia.
The GCEDC is also expected on Thursday to approve $2.11 million in tax breaks for an $11.1 million project by Brantford, Ontario-based Koolatron Corp. to construct a 165,000-square-foot warehouse at the corner of Call Parkway and Old Orchard Road, in the Gateway II Corporate Park in the Town of Batavia.
The Canadian distributor of coolers, freezers and other appliances, which already has more than 200,000 square feet of warehouse space in two other facilities in Genesee County, is adding a third facility to focus primarily on Kenmore-branded products that it now has a license to distribute. Those include standing and chest freezers, wine cellars, refrigerators and small appliances.
The project, which has already been approved by the town, would create 28 full-time jobs within three years, paying an average of $50,000 in salary, but ranging from $40,000 to $100,000.
Reach Jonathan D. Epstein at (716) 849-4478 or jepstein@buffnews.com.
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