Ellicott Street

Even in this morning's downpour, contractors were out on Ellicott Street milling the intersections in preparation for resurfacing.

Contractors working for the state Department of Transportation began working on Ellicott Street, Batavia, this morning.

A 1.7-mile stretch will be milled and resurfaced. By the end of the project, the four-lane roadway will be reduced to three lanes and bike lanes will be added.

Bill Hume is living his dream.

What started with a Star Wars and KISS memorability collection when he was a child, has blossomed into his own retail store on Ellicott Street.

The 39-year-old entrepreneur started selling pop culture collectibles on Ebay in 1998, eventually had a 20x20 stall at Antique World in Clarence and now has 1,000-square-foot store at 440 Ellicott St.

"It's been progressively building and culminated in a store back in my home town," said Hume. "This was the ultimate dream, though I didn't know it would ever be feasible."

Hume benefited from a flexible landlord and the ability to buy all of his store fixtures cheaply.

The store, named Foxprowl, opened just over a week ago.

He said customers from Buffalo, who bought collectibles from him in Clarance, have already started showing up at his new location to browse his expanded inventory.

The story contains a wide variety of pop culture items, from figurines for Star Wars, KISS (of course), Star Trek, Spider Man, Superman and Austin Powers to toys and games tied to many of the most popular movies and TV shows of the past 30 years.

"I guess I was born at the right time," Hume said. "I just got sucked up into the whole pop culture thing in the late '70s"

He acknowledges that his kind of specialty retail store can find it hard to survive. But he's hoping with his ability to keep his expenses low, expansive resources for obtaining new inventory, and a loyal following from his previous years in business, he can make a go of it at his new location.

In the wake of a disheartening fire more than two years ago, the owner of the former Cristina’s Restaurant & Lounge on Ellicott Street plans to re-invigorate his property – by giving it away.

Chuck Brumsted says it’s time to see the remains of his restaurant made useful again.

“Without all the community support we had through (25) years, what Cristina’s was wouldn’t have been possible,” Brumsted says. “So we’d like to take the property as-is and donate it to a not-for-profit organization. And that way it stays in the community, and hopefully a majority of the people will be able to use it.”

He bought the building at 230 Ellicott St. in 1984.

“I basically put the building together…through numerous additions; it was a wreck when I acquired it,” he says.

For 25 years, Brumsted operated the restaurant, gaining notoriety in the area and attracting such big governmental names as Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo.

Then in 2008, tragedy struck. A destructive early-morning blaze ripped through the main building. It was declared a total loss and was eventually torn down, leaving an empty lot next to the also-damaged banquet hall.

The cause of that fire was never discovered. Brumsted declines to speak anymore about the fire.

“We don’t want to live in the past."

And so, moving forward with the property is his goal. In all, he estimates about 9,000 square feet is available, including a 5,000-square-foot, non-combustible masonry building.

“One of the ideas that’s been entertained is to take the part that was a two-story frame building, and make green space, a park-like setting. Then take the building that’s left, open up the east wall, and make an open amphitheater.”

Another idea is for a non-profit to simply acquire it and rent the space out for private parties or wedding receptions. Those are just a few of the many ideas Brumsted envisions for the site; he listed off 10 different proposals in a row. None of it is final, of course: Brumsted hasn’t yet secured a non-profit to donate to.

Whatever the cause, Brumsted says he hasn’t even considered any monetary loss he may absorb by giving it away.

“That hasn’t even been discussed. It’d be an honor and a privilege to see the building stay intact and have years and years of use. It’d be a great memory of Cristina’s.”

Any non-profit organization interested in Chuck Brumsted’s offer is asked to contact him by calling (585) 356-0927.

PHOTOS:  top, Cristina's today; inset, Cristina's before fire (courtesy Chuck Brumsted); bottom, re-development plans for former Cristina's site (courtesy Chuck Brumsted).

Batavia resident Frank VanApeldoorn was positioned on Ellicott Street this afternoon with his religious sign. VanApeldoorn said today wasn't the first time he's stood in front of the former Dellapenna building with his sign. He's also travelled around the region, and even around the country, with his sign. VanApeldoorn, a member of Calvary Baptist Church on Galloway Road, said he likes the Dellapenna's location because it's visible, but still out of people's way and, "It's where God put me."

Arriving back in Batavia from Geneseo at dusk, I remembered that one of the pictures I've been thinking about trying to get, is the front of Batavia Police Station at night because of the funky green lights on the front of the building. That led to a general playing around with night photography at the intersection of Main and Ellicott streets. These are the four photos from that session.

City Fire is being dispatched to 466 Ellicott St., Time Bomb Tattoo, for a car fire behind the building.

Remember the two Town of Batavia employees we found at Main and Ellicott one day last week counting cars?

A few days later, I ran into Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post and he explained to me why what they were doing was so important.

The town wants to make sure the state is working with up-to-date, accurate data before making a decision to reduce Ellicott Street from two lanes in each direction to one, with a turn lane down the center.

Disrupting traffic flow on Ellicott, Post said, could significantly hurt four of the county's biggest employers -- Hanson Aggregates, Chapin Industries, Graham Manufacturing and O-AT-KA Milk Cooperative. 

All four rely on big trucks being able rumble down Ellicott and if it turned out that reducing the number of lanes on the street through both the city and town added minutes to each trip, that could add up to a truck load of money.

Post said most of those trucks cost about $75 to $85 per hour to operate, so a five-minute travel delay adds about $7.50 to the cost of moving product or material.

"Ultimately, somebody has to pay for that delay," Post said.

And it's not just the local businesses that rely on smooth sailing down Ellicott, a lot of Western New York truck traffic passes through Batavia on Route 63.

By making the effort to get an accurate count a multi-jurisdiction effort, Post said he hopes the Department of Transportation will have better data to work with.

"The state has had budget cutbacks just like everybody else," Post said, explaining why a multi-agency approach made sense.

There were counters from the DOT out at the same time as the town employees.

As for using human counters instead of automatic counters in rubber hoses laid across the roadway, Post said people can pay attention to where cars turn, not just that they passed over a certain spot. Also, since we're not out of snow season yet, the counting boxes could be easily damaged if plowers were put back into action. He said costwise, it doesn't make that much difference -- a lot of boxes would have needed to be placed on Main and Ellicott to get an accurate picture of traffic patterns.

"This is just an effort to find all the most accurate and up-to-date information possible," Post said. "This is a major project. We want to get it right. There's the old saying, 'measure twice, cut once.'"

Joseph Neth and Marcy Crandall are Town of Batavia employees. Their assignment today: Sit for two hours at the corner of Main and Ellicott streets and count cars. Neth said it's his understanding that the state is thinking of reducing the lanes of traffic through the intersection and the car counts are part of the study for that proposal.

A bicyclist has been struck by a car at Ellicott Street Road and Swan Street.

The victim is still down and reportedly bleeding from his head.

Batavia Fire and Mercy EMS have been dispatched.

UPDATE: Patient transported by ground ambulance to UMMC. Fire and police clear scene.

At 230 Ellicott Street, there is a vacant lot, but it's more than just an unsightly gap between two commercial buildings. It also represents unfinished business.

Richard Borrell, owner of Borrell Fitness, right next door, figures the fire that destroyed Cristina's Restaurant on July 12, 2008, has cost or will cost him from $340,000 to $375,000.

So far, neither Charles Brumsted Jr., Cristina's owner, nor Brumsted's insurance company, Mid-State Mutual Insurance, have reimbursed Borrell for his losses.

Borrell said he's retained a lawyer out of Buffalo and said a lawsuit was filed last week on his behalf, but the suit is not on file with the Genesee County Clerk. The Batavian has called the law office of Eugene C. Tenney seven or eight times since last Thursday, where receptionists say Edward J. Schwendler, III, is handling the case, but Schwendler has returned none of the calls.

It's unclear if Brumsted -- we couldn't find contact information for him -- settled his claim against Mid-State.

An attorney for Brumsted, Charles Ritter, of Buffalo, filed a lawsuit May 18, 2009, against Mid-State, alleging that Mid-State had failed to honor the contractual terms of its insurance policy. Brumsted sought at least $1.5 million in damages, which included a $375,000 claim by Borrell.

In the filing, Brumsted claims that Mid-State representatives indicated he would have no trouble collecting on his insurance claim and that he would be able to reopen for business by Spring of 2008.

On Dec 3, 2009, Ritter and Mid-State's attorney, Joseph Rizzo, of Rochester, signed a "stipulation of discontinuance." The short document is ambiguous on whether this constituted a settlement of Brumsted's claims and contains no details on whether Brumsted received any payment from Mid-State. 

Neither Ritter nor Rizzo returned calls placed today.

Mid-State has also not returned a phone call seeking more information about Cristina's.

Borrell is unsure why Mid-State has not settled with him and preferred not to comment in detail about his legal situation. He said his building suffered extensive fire and water damage. The floors on the second floor are warped, the bricks and mortar on the outside of the building were heavily damaged, he suffered water damage to equipment and his HVAC system. 

The cause of the fire has never been determined. Captain Michael B. Drew of the City of Batavia Fire Department issued a report following a thorough investigation July 12, 2008.

While the investigation team was able to eliminate many accidental hazards, it was not able to eliminate all hazards, namely electrical wiring or equipment malfunction.

In addition, the investigation team was unable to eliminate the possibility that the fire cause may have been other than accidental and is therefore undetermined at this time.

Drew's report says the fire started in the area of the central stairway.

A possible accidental cause that was not ruled out was a malfunction in a electrical junction box on the east wall of the basement. Damage to the box, which included a hole burnt through the cover, could not have been done by an external fire source, Drew wrote.

At the same time, given the location of the box and the location of the fire origin, that junction box could not conclusively be ruled as causing the fire.

In interviews with investigators, Brumsted said he had electrical problems with a fan and was bringing an electrician to fix it. "Fire damage to this unit was noted to be inconclusive with its direct involvement in the fire's ignition," Drew wrote.

Brumsted said the building had been up for sale since 2001. He also said he was seeking a demolition permit for the restaurant portion of the building. 

In 2000, news reports said Brumsted was planning to convert the building into office space.

Cristina's was named after Brumsted's aunt, Cristina Meleca, who crafted some Italian recipes for the restaurant. Cristina Meleca died in 1995 at age 95. Brumsted purchased the restaurant from his uncle, Frank Meleca, in 1985.

There's going to be an open house from 2:30 to 4:30 and again at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 to discuss the pavement rehab project planned for Route 63/Ellicott Street. It takes place on the second floor of Batavia City Hall, located at One Batavia City Center.

Representatives from the state Department of Transportation will provide the following information about the project, which spans from Ellicott and Main streets to Cedar Street:

• Pavement repairs, milling and asphalt resurfacing, new pavement markings
• Re-striping lanes from the four now there, down to three
• Expanding parking on both sides of the street
• Construction work planned for summer 2010
• Traffic maintenance on Ellicott during construction operations using daily lane closures
• Having both nighttime and daytime construction

For questions or comments, call Dan Farrelly at (585) 272-4875 or e-mail him at dfarrelly@dot.state.ny.us

Here's the official project description:

The DOT is preparing plans to repair and resurface 1.7 miles of Route 63 (Ellicott Street) in the City of Batavia.

The scope of the work includes asphalt pavement repairs, pavement milling 2.5 inches in depth, a 2-inch-thick asphalt overlay, new pavement markings and cleaning of drainage structures.

The pavement markings are planned to change the traffic pattern from four lanes to three lanes, with parking on both sides of the road.

This work will restore a smooth ride, as well as preserve and extend the service life of the Ellicott Street pavement.

Regarding traffic control, traffic on Route 63 (Ellicott Street) will be reduced to a single lane in each direction during pavement repairs and resurfacing operations. Day and nigh time lane closures are planned.

No Route 63 traffic detours are proposed.

Report of a no-injury auto accident on Ellicott Street between Swan and Otis.

The vehicles are blocking a portion of Ellicott currently.

It looks like work has finally begun on the Ellicott Street railroad crossing. 

Center Street is closed at Ellicott. There is two-way traffic this morning on Ellicott, but guided by cones.

On the way home for lunch, I noticed two DOT employees standing by the train tracks at Ellicott Street and Jackson Street, so I stopped and asked if they were planning on improving the intersection.

Anybody who has driven over or walked past the train tracks knows the road is in bad shape there.

Troy Sampson, a civil engineer with the DOT, said the state will rip out the asphalt along the rail line and replace it with concrete panels, just like the railroad crossing on Route 98 now.

The work was supposed to start next week, but there has been a delay. The state hopes now to start work in August. The project will take 6 weeks to complete.

"It's 100 percent going to happen," Sampson said. "It's just a matter of how it's going to happen. There's lots of logistics here."

UPDATE: Well, not so fast.  The project that looked so certain this morning is now on hold. I just received this e-mail from Troy Sampson:

We spoke, in brief, earlier today at the rr crossing on Ellicott St.  The  proposed work will be done by the Railroad's contractor, not DOT forces.  Myself and a RR representitve were onsite to investigate some issues that have come up that need to be resolved in order for that project to progress.   Because of those changes, the project is currently on hold until all the  necessary parties can meet to evalute the new scope of work.  The orginal  plan that was all set to go is now on hold.  We intend to do a project, but  are not "100%" as noted.

Yesterday, we noticed this bench was completed. Looks nice, but patrons in the Pok-A-Dot are still making skeptical remarks about it, wondering what kind of riffraff it will attract.

Today's lunch was at Mother's Chicken and Fish on Ellicott. After our meal, owner Tim Chugg and I started chatting.

He's pretty upset that the new brick bench across the street from his store, outside the Pok-A-Dot, remains unfinished several months after the project was started.  There's been no sign of progress all spring.

I checked with Don Burkel at the BID, and he said there's an unresolved issue the DOT holding up the entire Ellicott Street project.

"We're anxious to get it finished, too." Burkel said. "We hope to have the entire project finished by late spring."

Work begun this morning on the Ellicott Street sidewalk renovation project in downtown Batavia. Proof of this was the brief blackout this morning when construction crews struck an unexpected power line.

The Batavian sat with Batavia Business Improvement Director Don Burkel this morning to find out some details about the project—we also got a photo of the plans: a section of the project at the intersection of Liberty and Ellicott streets (see below).

"We want to create a pedestrian area that is safe and attractive so that shoppers will want to come downtown to Ellicott Street," he said.

Making things attractive means breaking up the existing sidewalk, putting in new concrete pavers, adding some trees here and there, putting in some curbing and bumpouts, even a gazebo. Work stretches from the Evans and Court streets interesection east down Ellicott to the interesection with Swan Street.

Burkel said the project should be complete by the end of November and that there should be no interference with traffic in the meantime. Anyone interested in the project or any other downtown initiatives for that matter should visit the BID's Web site.

Funds for the project came mostly from a street enhancement grant from the Federal Highway Administration, said Burkel. They pitched in $500,000. The BID gave $150,000, and another $100,000 was supplied by the city.