“I think with some tender loving care, this can really be a great strip again,” says developer Nick Sinatra of properties along Delaware Avenue in Kenmore.Real estate developer Nick Sinatra is betting that the best days are ahead for storefronts on Delaware Avenue.
Nick Sinatra remembers the foot traffic along Delaware Avenue while he was growing up in the Village of Kenmore.
But during the years that he was away at college and launching his career, the face of one of Buffalo’s oldest suburbs continued to age, now evidenced by vacant buildings and what one longtime merchant called “tired” facades.
Now, the 30-year-old Sinatra, from a family of well-known restaurateurs, is making a name for himself as an investor. And he’s investing in Kenmore.
“There’s a lot of history,” Sinatra said recently, as he walked along Delaware Avenue. “I think with some tender loving care, this can really be a great strip again.”
Sinatra & Company Real Estate paid $875,000 earlier this year for several Delaware Avenue properties. This week, the Kenmore Planning Board cleared Sinatra to begin a face-lift on 10 storefronts between Mang Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard, about a quarter-mile north of Kenmore Avenue.
“This is the heart of Kenmore. I grew up down the street,” he said, pointing to Knowlton Avenue.
Sinatra’s investment is building anticipation in the village.
“He is a landlord that is willing to invest in his property on the front end — now,” said Bob Bolt, president of the Kenmore Merchants Association.
Delaware Avenue has been in the sights of other investors and developers in recent years. Near Kenmore’s southern gateway, Iskalo Development Co. of Amherst built anew on the site of the former Kane Doyle Jeep dealership. A civic group has chosen that project for its “2011 Most Improved Commercial Property Award.”
Plaza Group of Buffalo also has received kudos from community and elected leaders for its overhaul of several facades.
And across Kenmore Avenue in North Buffalo, Delaware has been transformed through an infusion of retail development in the past 20 years.
Sinatra’s company, founded in 2009, invests in distressed real estate in the Chicago and Western New York areas. Financial backers include a heiress to the Hyatt hotel fortune.
Local investments include apartments and duplexes, and retail space.
Sinatra’s other Delaware Avenue purchases, on the block between Lincoln and Victoria boulevards, include the homes of Sinbad Market, Watson’s Chocolates and Michael’s Florist & Gifts. He’s also under contract to buy additional property between Hamilton Boulevard and Shepard Avenue.
Work on the storefronts between Mang and Lincoln will start any day now. Permit applications were filed Friday, and June 1 is the target for completion.
“Is that possible? I don’t know,” Sinatra told planners this week. “The resources are there.”
With a $200,000 budget, the first job is removing old facades, down to the original brick. The planned work will be mostly cosmetic: new facades, lighting and signs — not only on the facades but also to direct customers to the municipal parking lot behind that block.
Built in 1930, the buildings were part of the extensive real estate holdings of the Katz family. It was in the window of 2878 Delaware that Sinatra saw a phone number that first put him in touch with Donald Katz more than 15 months ago.
That particular address will accommodate an expansion of the Sinatra family’s catering business. A banquet hall will open in the space that once housed Falletta’s Restaurant.
“I see a lot of potential in this space,” Sinatra said, as he led a reporter through the building.
The bar will be cut down and relocated to the back; the wall in between will be demolished. Windows that open onto the street will replace the existing plate glass.
The banquet hall will have a capacity of 175 people, Sinatra said. He and his brothers, Michael — who now runs the family restaurant on Kenmore Avenue — and John, will own the catering business.
The planned facade work “will tremendously improve the image of the core part of the village,” said Bolt, president of the merchants association.
“The facades on the buildings now are, in some cases, 30 to 50 years old,” Bolt said. “They are very tired. They don’t look fresh.”
Bolt’s business, Mike’s Subs, has been on that block since 1956; he’s owned it since 1981.
Sinatra plans to expand Mike’s Subs to include a larger dining area. While that business will remain on the block, its exact location is undetermined.
“I would have an expansion I haven’t had in years,” Bolt said.
“To me, it’s a revitalization of the core area,” Bolt said. “We want to stay fresh. We want to make it a place to come.”
Sinatra’s investment in his hometown also is welcomed by Mayor Patrick Mang.
“We are glad Nick’s in the neighborhood,” he said. “We have been waiting for something like this for a long time.”
Under Sinatra’s plans, vacant storefronts will get additional attention — including new windows — to get them “show ready” for prospective tenants, he said.
Even before the deal closed, Sinatra had the flat roofs repaired to stop leaks. “There certainly is some deferred maintenance,” he said.
Improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems will be made over time, Sinatra added.
When it comes to attracting tenants, he already knows there’s a demand for a bakery/cafe.
“That’s number one on top of Kenmore residents’ list,” said Melissa Foster, president of Kenmore Village Improvement Society. The four-year-old civic group has an ongoing survey about the types of businesses that residents would like to see — or not see — in the village.
“I would like to see him bring in quality tenants — and I know he will,” the mayor said.
Even before Sinatra arrived on the scene, KVIS began courting businesses. As he puts out feelers to prospective tenants, “We will follow it up,” Foster said.
“I am excited about the possibility of what he can do,” he said. “I think we all are.”
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