Downtown project includes upscale living, business spaces

AIMEE K. WILES Brothers Drew, left, and Jim Costanza are renovating the 14-story Temple Building to include penthouses, apartments, offices and a lobby restaurant. The family has owned the building since 1983.

By Jeffrey Blackwell
Democrat and Chronicle

(Friday, February 1, 2002) -- A multimillion-dollar renovation is changing the Temple Building from empty office space into luxury apartments designed to attract young professionals, empty nesters and people who just want to live steps from where they work.

The project is close to the hearts and pocketbooks of the family that has owned the building since 1983. Costanza Enterprises Inc., founded by Angelo Costanza in 1971, considered walking away from the 14-story building two years ago when it was 60 percent empty.

"The notion of just giving up, walking away or shuttering it up just stuck in our craw," said Jim Costanza, company president. "The other option -- and the one we chose -- was to put a lot of money into it, which was a lot more appealing even though there was a strong argument to walk away."

Costanza Enterprises plans to spend between $3.5 million and $4 million on the building, on Franklin Street across from the Liberty Pole.

Under the plan, the lobby will be renovated to accommodate a restaurant. Floors 2 and 3 will be turned into units for people who want to live and work at the same address. Apartments will be constructed on floors 4 through 7 and on the top floor.

The entire building will be wired with optical cable, which can accommodate high-tech communication and security systems.

"This building is going to be as wired as any new building built," said Drew Costanza, vice president of the family company.

Floors 8 through 13 are about 80 percent occupied with offices. Those floors may be renovated into apartments if office occupancy drops.

The plan also addresses the lack of on-site parking. The basement will be turned into a tri-level garage that will accommodate about 75 vehicles.

"Without the parking garage this project would never be able to get off the ground," said Jim Costanza. "The bottom line is that no one is going to rent a penthouse suite when their Mercedes or Cadillac is in an outside parking lot 160 yards away."

The family hopes the addition of apartments will make the building profitable and lead to the renovation of the church sanctuary that is attached to the 1926 building.

The Rev. Clinton Wunder, a local Baptist minister, came up with the idea of building the office tower and using the revenue to finance construction of a lavish church, said Don Shilling, local author and historian.

"He is quite an interesting story himself," Shilling said. "This building has a 13th floor because he would say that Baptists are not superstitious."

The Costanzas hope the church -- with its stained glass windows and mahogany-paneled walls -- will attract interest from a national restaurant chain. It is currently a nightclub.

Construction is expected to begin within the next month. The interior demolition began 18 months ago.

Apartments should be available this summer or fall. Rent is expected to be about $1 a square foot, with apartments ranging from 900 to 1,450 square feet.

Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, vice president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corp., said the project could offer promise for other old office buildings in the city. She said these buildings offer an asset for residential use because of unique floor plans and views.

"The conversion to residential is changing the complexion of buildings, and the Temple Building is a perfect case in point," she said. "I think we are starting to look at office buildings differently because of conversion but also because we have comities in upper-floor office space."

Other apartment projects downtown have been successful. Apartments with work spaces completed more than two years ago in the Knowlton Building in the Cascade District are filled. Buckingham Properties is spending about $6.5 million on the renovation of the Michaels-Stern Building on North Clinton Avenue that will include commercial and office space as well as luxury apartments.

The problem is no one knows the depth of the market, Drew Costanza said.

"If you are going to spend $3 (million) or $4 million, you have to have a gut feeling," he said. "But there is no guarantee of success."