SYRACUSE — When Joseph Crabbe and his business partner, Rosario Amato, first purchased the old Howard & Jennings pump factory building at 123-129 E. Willow St. in downtown Syracuse several years ago, the plan was to open a restaurant there. The pair already operate eight Original Italian Pizza (OIP) restaurants, but ultimately steered away from […]
SYRACUSE — When Joseph Crabbe and his business partner, Rosario Amato, first purchased the old Howard & Jennings pump factory building at 123-129 E. Willow St. in downtown Syracuse several years ago, the plan was to open a restaurant there.
The pair already operate eight Original Italian Pizza (OIP) restaurants, but ultimately steered away from their restaurant plans for the building with the nearby I-81 viaduct project and increasing costs as key factors.
“We ended up switching gears,” Crabbe says of their plans. “It became too overwhelming to do what we wanted to do.” They pivoted and opted to renovate the 1879 building into ground-floor commercial space and four apartments upstairs.
Once home to the Colella Galleries antique store, the building has quite a history, according to a collection of newspaper clippings and information amassed by Crabbe. Designed by architect Charles E. Colton, the building became a concern to the city in 1971 when bricks fell from the front of the building. Nicholas Collela renovated the building in the early 1970s, and then renovated it again after a 1975 explosion on the 200 block of North Salina Street damaged the building. The building’s fourth floor was destroyed in the blast and wasn’t rebuilt.
Crabbe says they needed to make sure the building, which still boasts two of its original three rooftop gargoyles, was historically restored when they started the project.
“We ended up gutting the entire place,” he says. The business partners spent a total of $1.9 million to purchase and renovate the building. The end result is Willow 123 Lofts — four luxury apartments and 3,000 square feet of commercial space.
The apartments range from about 1,450 square feet to just over 1,600 square feet for the penthouse unit. Each unit has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 12-foot ceilings. Three units showcase the original wood-support beams of the building. The penthouse includes a mezzanine level and a rooftop terrace. All of the units feature granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances, and parking is available.
The goal, Crabbe says, was to build the kind of apartment he would want to live in.
“I fell in love with the project,” he adds.
While leasing the apartments was fairly easy, Crabbe says he’s having a harder time leasing the commercial space. It isn’t due to lack of interest, he notes, but because he’s being picky about what type of business goes into the space.
“I think it would make a great café,” he says. An office or even retail space would also be a good fit, considering the tenants up above.
Crabbe is ok being patient and waiting for the right tenant for the space, especially with the I-81 project looming.
“When the 81 project is done, that building is going to be on a great corner,” he notes.
