By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
Entrepreneurs Matt Gray and Matt Boyd on Monday morning closed on the purchase of the former JC Penney property that is connected to the City Centre — 40 days after purchasing the building for $175,000 at an auction at the Genesee County Courts Facility.
Gray, a Batavian, and Boyd, who resides in North Carolina, are co-owners of Eli Fish Brewery on Main Street in the city.
Contacted on Tuesday morning, Gray said he has inspected the interior of the building, noting that the main problem areas are with the roof.
“There are, after going through it, several leaks in the roof that we will need to take care of,” he said. “And then we’re planning on doing some general condition surveying through it. But overall, the building looks to be in good shape.”
When asked what was left inside of the 38,524-square foot structure, Gray said, “There’s no merchandise, but it appears that most of the shelving and racking are still in the building.”
Reiterating what he said at the auction on Jan. 16, Gray mentioned that he and Boyd had no particular vision for the building.
“We did not have a plan in place, other than we know that that space should be filled. We would be hopeful that we could find a retailer that would take all of it,” he said. “But realistically, we expect that we’ll have to subdivide it in order to get smaller tenants.”
Gray said he has not talked to any possible tenants yet but he and Boyd “are working with an architectural firm out of North Carolina to come up with some potential ideas for the future of the property.”
“But for now, our main goal is just to stabilize the property and make sure that the roof is sound and that no damage is occurring.”
As far as suggestions from the public on what to put in there, Gray declined to give any specifics.
“I’m going to pass on that one,” he said. “I would say that most of the suggestions that we’re given were by social media comments.”
Gray said he hasn’t ruled out placing apartments on top of the one-story building, but nothing is definite at this time.
As previously reported, the property at 40 City Centre is zoned commercial has been vacant since 2020 after JCPenney closed.
It was purchased in 2021 for $500,000 by Yong Guang Ye of California but was foreclosed on with a lien of $179,141 attached to the property along with back taxes, school taxes and back water bills.