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Ex-Midtown tenants settle in at Alliance Building
Ex-Midtown tenants settle in at Alliance Building
October 30, 2008
Sean Dobbin
D&C Staff writer
As Janet Galligan opened the door to Fauna's Vintage Toys, Games & Unique Gifts on Wednesday afternoon, an attorney walked by with a colleague and called out, "Hey kids!"
"Hey boys!" replied Galligan, owner of the specialty gift and toy shop.
For Galligan, the first floor of the Alliance Building at 183 E. Main St. might not feel like home just yet, but the appearance of a familiar face every morning made the transition a little easier.
"Every time he walked by my store (in Midtown), he always had a smile and said 'Hi,'" said Galligan. "I never realized I was moving into a building where he came from."
Fauna's is one of four Midtown Plaza businesses that now reside in the Alliance Building in Rochester. The transplants, which also include the Jewelry Clinic, Whelpley and Paul Opticians, and Midtown Tailor and Cleaners, were welcomed to their new home by Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
Duffy praised the merchants for staying in downtown Rochester, and said that the city's future is linked to the loyalty of downtown businesses.
"This was a bustling retail center at one time, but the one thing we're not going to do is accept that we can't go back to that," said Duffy. "While things have changed, they could also change back and go in the right direction."
While it may only be a small step toward the revival of a downtown shopping district, the relocation of the four ex-Midtown businesses will undoubtedly bring more traffic to the Alliance Building. Prior to the move, the J&K Cafe was the only business occupying the bottom floor. Designed in 1926 by the well-known New York City architectural firm McKim, Mead & White … which
also designed the Boston Public Library, the second Madison Square Garden, and the West Wing of the White House … the Lincoln-Alliance Bank headquarters was an engineering marvel.
Roman travertine floors complemented Botticino marble walls, and the second-floor banking center boasted 38-foot, floor-to-ceiling marble pillars and a ceiling mosaic by artist Ezra Winter.
The Lincoln-Alliance Bank's vault, located below street level, boasted 20,000 safe deposit boxes guarded by three 15-ton steel doors, and was the bank's Rochester headquarters for many years. The building was purchased in 1983 by Richard Crossed, whose company Conifer Realty LLC still owns the property. Conifer has since upgraded the building's windows, elevators and offices, and the sparkling ground floor had one of the merchants saying that he didn't miss Midtown at all.
"I was (in Rochester) 32 years ago when (Midtown) was jumping," said Lawrence Grasso, one of the eight owners of Whelpley and Paul Opticians. "But the last five or six years were really bad."
Bob Colombo, owner of the Jewelry Clinic, said that he thought his new store had more potential than his former location in Midtown, thanks to a nicer setup. But he admitted that he does occasionally miss his old store.
"Most of all I miss saying hello to the same people that I'd seen for 20-some years," said Colombo. "Everyone from the guys who worked in the garage to the maintenance guys to all the other vendors."
SDOBBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com
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