 |
|
 
New antiques and architectural salvage district in
city
Antiques present classic 'opportunity' for city
Showrooms to open blocks apart in South End
By Jack Spillane, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD — Two expansive antiques showrooms will soon
be located in the South End, marking what some hope will
be the emergence of the city as a regional antiques
center.
The New Bedford Antiques, located in the Fairhaven Mills
for the past 20 years, will close tomorrow and relocate
(under new ownership) to the Family Furniture and Carpet
building on West Rodney French Boulevard. A few blocks
away, the Wareham-based New England Demolition and
Salvage — known on public television's "This Old House"
for its salvaged claw-foot bathtubs and antique doors
and shutters — will relocate its architectural antiques
center to one of the Cove Street mills once operated by
Berkshire Hathaway.
Both operations expect to open for business in January
and will consume in the vicinity of 100,000 square feet
of show space compared to the roughly 35,000 square feet
at the current New Bedford Antiques.
The New Bedford Antiques operation will be renamed New
Bedford Antiques at the Cove.
"I think it's going to be an opportunity to continue to
build a brand," said Mayor Scott W. Lang, noting that
Hudson, N.Y., went from being a nondescript city to a
destination spot for antiques dealers.
The Berkshire complex is already home to several other
antiques business, and Acushnet River Antiques, another
long-standing antiques business, is located in a mill
just south of Interstate 195 in the Hicks-Logan
district.
Visitors traveling down Route 18 to the South End
antiques centers will go right by the downtown historic
districts and restaurants, the mayor acknowledged.
"We're bringing people right into the belly of the whale
now," he said.
Alan Herman, a dealer in scrimshaw-type artifacts at the
old New Bedford Antiques Center, said he had been
considering the possibility of using the Family
Furniture building as an antiques center ever since the
Fairhaven Mills operation almost closed last year. At
that time, it appeared a Home Depot would be built at
the site of the former mill just off Interstate 195. The
owner of New Bedford Antiques, Felix Petrarca, had
planned to relocate to one of the buildings near the old
Wamsutta Mill complex.
Several months ago, Mr. Herman, however, said he
mobilized the move to the Family Furniture building
after Mr. Petrarca informed his tenants he would close
the business at Fairhaven Mills on Nov 30. Mr. Petrarca
has been extremely helpful to him and his partners in
the move, he said.
Mr. Herman will partner in the new operation with two
friends and New Bedford businessmen, Steven Lefkowitz
and Judd Zeitz. Mr. Lefkowtiz is a co-owner of the
Family Furniture building, where a retail furniture
business is located.
Mr. Herman said his group is talking with the New
Bedford Economic Development Council about the
possibility of Interstate 195 signs directing visitors
to a South End antiques district.
"This is what we're hoping for — that New Bedford
becomes an antiques center," he said.
The development council was instrumental in helping New
England Demolition and Salvage in moving to the city.
It arranged for a $100,000 EDC "gap" loan. The loan
enabled the banks to approve the purchase of three
former Berkshire Hathaway mills, located at 73 and 93
Cove Street.
The total loan for the purchase, financed by Bank Five
of Fall River, was $2.3 million, said Matthew Morrissey,
the EDC executive director. Banks often want their
borrowers to come up with a small component of their
projects, he said.
"It's going to be a massive, massive place," said Mr.
Morrissey of the construction salvage center.
"This is clearly an opportunity for the city."
Jeanine James, who along with her husband Harry owns New
England Demolition and Salvage, said the business had
outgrown its Wareham location at the former Ocean Spray
cranberry building.
As the space needs for their 8-year-old business grew,
it became cost-prohibitive to rent space at the Wareham
location so the couple decided they needed to purchase
their own building, she said.
New England Salvage has actually purchased three
Berkshire buildings. The architectural antiques
business, along with some individual antiques dealers,
will be located at 73 Cove St. New England Salvage will
continue to rent space to factory and storage tenants at
the other two Berkshire buildings, she said.
"New Bedford Economic Development worked really hard to
get us. They really welcomed us to New Bedford," Mrs.
James said.
Mr. Morrissey said the EDC will meet Friday to talk
about marketing strategies for the two showrooms.
Suddenly the city has two large, antiques-related
businesses located quite close to each other, he said.
"We're going to leverage every bit of this we can," he
said.
Contact Jack Spillane at
jspillane@s-t.com
Date of Publication: November 29, 2006 on Page A05 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
