A plan to breathe new life into a mostly-vacant warehouse building on the northern edge of downtown was presented to the Downtown Commission earlier today.
The four- and six-story building, which sits at 260 E. Naghten St., contains about 100,000 square feet of space that would be renovated for office use. The proposal then calls for a 50,000-square-foot addition onto the north side of the building, which would require the demolition of a two-story brick building at 245 Mt. Vernon Ave.
Ben Punturi, of the architectural firm Ford & Associates, told the commission that “in order to structurally stabilize the building that we want to keep, that [smaller] building has to come down.”
The existing surface lot to the west of the site would be utilized for parking.
The project was reviewed conceptually, meaning that the commission provided initial comments but did not vote on approval.
Several commissioners spoke favorably of the proposal and alluded to the fact that previous attempts to redevelop the site have not been successful.
“It’s great to see someone doing something with the building,” said commissioner Otto Beatty.
Also heard at today’s meeting was a new plan for the PNC Building, as well as a significant proposal for the corner of East Broad Street and North Grant Avenue.
