The three brand new third floor apartments on display during the Eli Fish Brewing Company’s open house were rented in the blink of an eye right after construction started in January 2021. The one bedroom apartment with a rent of $800 and two, 2 bedroom apartments with a rent of $1100 each, went up on Zillow in February.
“They were all rented before construction was even half completed,” says Matthew Gray, Co-owner of Eli Fish Brewing Company.
“It was unsolicited because people heard there were apartments being built downtown and they were excited and it was the type of lifestyle they were looking for.”
There are now seven apartments in the former J.J. Newberry building located at 109 and 111 Main street in downtown Batavia. The four second floor apartments were completed in 2018. New tenants will be moving in on the third floor on July 1st.
“Its been a long road and I’m so happy to see the way that these three apartments came out. It takes a lot of the uncertainty out of the building. Its very reassuring.”
Gray says that the tenants that moved in on the second floor in 2018 have become part of a downtown family.
“There are definitely people that you see on a regular basis. They become friends with the serving staff downstairs at Eli. They really become part of the community quickly.”
Gray says the demographics of the tenants are across the board, but the desires are the same.
“They want to be where there is more going on, there is activity, they can walk places for shopping, dining and entertainment and they want the downtown feel and they want to be in Batavia.”
The project to complete the three third floor apartments was only made possible through a $137,600 grant provided by the NYS DRI(Downtown Revitalization Initiative) and administered through the BDC(Batavia Development Corporation), along with a grant from the DRI Building Improvement Fund, also administered by the BDC with guidance from the NYS Office of Homes and Community Renewal.
“We didn’t have intentions of doing this project, with the cost of construction vs. what was available to loan for the project and what the building was worth, this project would have never been completed. The capital they gave us was the bridge to close that gap. Without the DRI we would have never finished this. ”
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