Syracuse Realty Group Participates in the 2008 North Syracuse Family Festival.
The Village of North Syracuse put on a Family Festival. The event at Lonergan Park featured food and fun for the whole family. Click here to see our video.
Syracuse Realty Group Sponsors and Participates in the 2008 MS Walk for a Cure.
If you’d like to donate or participate in this great cause contact Syracuse Realty Group to find out how
you can help. Click here to see our video.
New Syracuse Realty Group Offices Spruce Up North Syracuse Business District
Former Location of MUZAK music store now reflects original splendor of historic home.
106 South Main Street probably looked like many ordinary village storefront business in North Syracuse at the beginning of 2007: brownish brick, flat rooftop, basically, a boxy commercial structure with wares displayed behind black-framed plate-glass windows.
But up-and-coming Central New York real estate brokers Orazio “Ozzie” Crisalli and Michael Arcuri saw a great opportunity to restore the building along the lines of what it had been as one of North Syracuse’s oldest homes.
The partners agreed that besides boosting the appearance of a village they both were attached to, renovating the building made good business sense. “It was a great location, being that it was right here in North Syracuse, with Clay and Cicero, where we do a lot of business, so close,” Crisalli said. “We wanted our clients to see the quality of our work and our commitment to the local community—we wanted to ‘show’ not ‘tell’.”
Once they started planning the renovation, they found a community of willing helpers: There was a receptive village administration, financial help available through Onondaga County, and connections to the family that originally owned the house with photographs of the house as it had once looked.
Alfred “Fred” Fergerson, a sixth-generation member of the family that settled in what is today’s North Syracuse in the 1820s from Scotland, said his family was happy when Syracuse Realty Group approached them. “They wanted our input,” said Fergerson, who runs the family-owned Fergerson Funeral Home in the village with his wife Pat and son Bill. “It was my grandfather’s brother’s house… each one of the children at the time got a house as a wedding gift; this one was for George and Helen Fergerson.”
Fergerson says his great-uncle and aunt died in the early sixties. Fergerson says some of George and Helen Fergerson’s children who grew up in 106 S. Main St. are still alive, living in Parish and Brewerton. The first business to take over the house was Marv’s Clothing, but since then the building has hosted various other businesses, including MUZAK, a music store that leased it before Syracuse Realty Group bought the property and began renovations in 2007.
When Syracuse Realty Group began work and the building started to take shape, Fergerson said he saw the house’s second floor for the first time and was surprised to see signature decorative pieces that were installed in all the original Fergerson homes, unchanged after all the years. “I think it’s a nice addition to the village.”
North Syracuse Mayor John Heindorf, who grew up when the first business took over the building from the Fergerson family, says he is very excited about the newly refurbished building. “We are glad to hear they were going to renovate it and not tear it down,” Heindorf said. “It looks really super now; it’s really the gem of the village.”
Heindorf sees the change as part of the ongoing revitalization of North Syracuse’s Main Street with several new businesses moving in. “We’ve seen a big change in the last four years,” he said, attributing part of the surge to the village’s comprehensive economic plan and Onondaga County’s Community Commercial Rehabilitation Program, which he encourages business owners to look into. “North Syracuse is coming alive.”
Onondaga County Community Development Division provided Syracuse Realty Group with a $25,000 matching grant through their Commercial Rehabilitation Program for community development. The program is facilitated through the federal office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“The basic matching grant is $15,000,” said Linda DeFichy, administrator of the county’s Community Development office, adding that the amount can be lower or higher depending on various conditions. “The purpose of the program is to keep the small businesses in the central business districts and to provide services for residents, and have things look somewhat uniform.”
Businesses in the program also get the consultation services and expertise of county architect Toni Kleist, who works with the individual businesses from start to finish.
When the project ended, Crisalli and Arcuri moved their operation from a 1,000 sq. ft. space on Taft Road into the newly-renovated property.
“Our business had grown so much we realized we needed the space,” Arcuri said. “Of course, the end product is a bit more higher-end than we’d have had just for ourselves, but it’s great.”
The two business partners have hosted a few open house events so far to celebrate with community members and business friends.
Crisalli and Arcuri became partners in 2007 after realizing their similar backgrounds in finance and real estate were perfect for a partnership. Within one year, the two-man operation has now blossomed into a firm employing 13 people.
The refurbished 3,800 sq. ft. building with gleaming white railings on a handsome second-story balcony now features tan-colored siding with white trimming and elegant office space with soft powder-blue walls, artfully placed prints and some of the original decorative detailing. “We are very happy about this building,” Crisalli said. “It improves the overall appearance of the village and that will, in the end, improve property values.”
For details on the Community Rehabilitation Program, call the Onondaga County Division of Community Development at (315) 435-3558.
