Excellence Award Spotlight: Olean's First National Bank Restoration
“The revitalization of Olean’s First National Bank is a project that took a great deal of commitment and tenacity by the City of Olean to find the funds to reconstruct the seriously damaged terra cotta cornice of this seven-story building while seeking a developer to invest in this outstanding landmark in Olean’s downtown. Many cities, when faced with a dangerous liability such as this, might have demolished the building, but Olean persevered and reconstructed its cornice with its future developer, Samuel Savarino, who went on to develop the building into 22 market rate apartments and create commercial space,” said the project’s architect, Elise Johnson-Schmidt. “The completion of the building after searching for a developer for over a dozen years, is a testament to Samuel Savarino, Keri Kerper of the City of Olean and the Urban Renewal Agency.”
The First National Bank of Olean and the adjacent former Siegel’s Shoes building have been revitalized to provide much-needed high-quality housing, office, and commercial space in downtown Olean. Vacant for more than two decades, the city’s Urban Renewal Agency worked hard to find a path forward, which included historic district designation to allow for the use of Historic Tax Credits. The rehabilitation of these historic spaces was led by preservation architect Elise Johnson-Schmidt and developer Savarino Companies. Elise was gracious enough to answer a few questions about her work on this Award-winning project.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome on this project?
There were several obstacles to overcome, which included convincing the City of Olean's Urban Renewal Commission that its rehabilitation was the direction to take since it had been vacant and getting vandalized for a period of years while they reached out to various developers who were not able to undertake the project. They were very discouraged. The building was not listed or part of an historic district that would enable someone to make use of the Federal and State Historic Preservation Tax Credits. After a couple of years of advocating on behalf of the building and the neighborhood, Johnson-Schmidt, Architect, P.C. was able to convince the Urban Renewal Commission that listing it on the Register would be an important factor for encouraging a developer to undertake the project. If it were listed and a developer could not be found, it would limit the CIty's ability to use grant money to demolish the building, so it was a serious consideration for the ones responsible for the building to contemplate.
The second overriding challenge that existed was that the terra cotta cornice on the building’s seventh story had failed (before and after photos above). The liability that presented was pretty overwhelming, as you might imagine with the threat of terra cotta falling off the building despite efforts to prevent that from happening. The building was very difficult to financially invest in by itself and not lose money on its revitalization without significant help and the repair of the cornice made it all the more challenging for the project to pencil out. Fortunately, Keri Kerper of the City of Olean was an excellent grant writer and found funds to replace the roof AND the terra cotta cornice prior to the building's revitalization and sale to a developer. Samuel Savarino appeared after many years of seeking a developer, and he understood the significance of working as a team to restore the cornice while the building was still in the CIty's ownership. He was the guy who knew how to put his team together to finally make it happen. Without his vision, the building may have faced demolition. He was the buildings' sentinel and rescuer.
Was there an unexpected discovery you made during the project?
It appeared to be an early example of a fire-proofed seven-story building, which was fun to discover in numerous facets of the building throughout the project.
Why are adaptive reuse projects like this so important for building stronger communities?
Downtowns have been in a downturn since shopping malls began to be developed in the 1960s. It took the retail lifeblood of downtown and turned it on its heel. The primary way that communities will bounce back is by bringing people back into downtown, and since bringing or retaining retail is such a challenge to effectively bring people to downtown, especially with the advent of online shopping, then bringing people to live downtown will do precisely that. Bringing people who have a discretionary budget who can support downtown by eating in its restaurants, purchasing items from downtown businesses, and strengthening the service businesses that are there has been shown to build back a thriving community. This is exactly what Olean is doing and doing it very well with the completion of this project and the others around the corner that have brought new downtown residents.
On completion, what were you most proud of?
That the building was saved; the way that it has rented up and that it is making a dent in Olean being a livable city; and how we were able to retain the buildings' historic integrity. It's part of a much bigger picture in which numerous projects have spawned a renewal of downtown. This is indeed the most dominant building in the downtown and its renewal has set the standard for the rest of the North Union. It began with some buildings around the corner that are owned by Jeff Belt who has invested in the neighborhood by beautifully rehabbing four buildings, followed by the streetscape renewal that leveraged an $11 million investment in the Olean community. It has totally transformed North Union Street, providing the downtown with a beautiful and walkable streetscape for buildings to be picturesquely renewed. As we all know, you need both for a community's renewal to be successful, and Olean is doing so wonderfully. I'm very impressed with how the City has embraced its renewal, which started with some folks in the community doing some benchmarking of other successful downtowns while getting the City and its major stakeholders to support its renewal. It is part of a real renaissance of downtown Olean.
Before and after: Interior hallway and exterior rear facade.
This rehabilitation project was funded in part through New York State and Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. The project team included Keri Kerper and the Olean Urban Renewal Agency; Elise Johnson-Schmidt and Charles Devine of Johnson-Schmidt, Architect; Samuel Savarino and Luke Cusack of Savarino Companies; Don Warda and David Schrantz of RE Kelley; Hans M Harasimchuk and Steve Dobronos of Architectural Fiberglass, Inc; Evan Kopelson and Patrick Capruso of Vertical Access; Roy Pedersen of E & M Engineers and Surveyors, PC; Dale Cich of Siracuse Engineers, PC; Molly Cagwin, Photography; George Barry of Foss and Company.