2 old Erie buildings get new life

For much of its 74 years, when it operated as Carmen's Restaurant, the building at 2427 Buffalo Road seemed to be stuck in time.

Carmen's was known for its homemade pastas and lasagna, created from recipes its only owners, the Pacinelli family, never wrote down.

The restaurant's sunken dining room, decorated with white miniature lights hung on white lattice, featured a dcor reminiscent of Frank Sinatra in his Rat Pack heyday.

Three years after Carmen's closed, the future has caught up with its former home.

A local businessman, Aaron Jarmolowicz, is renovating the 4,191-square-foot building, which was erected in 1920. He bought it for $34,835, including about $3,800 in fees, at a judicial tax sale in December 2013.

Since he got the deed to the property in March, Jarmolowicz has spent about $200,000 to have contractors and his architect, Tom Gross, design and install a new facade -- sleek, and featuring lots of stone -- and gut the interior.

Jarmolowicz, 40, recently advertised the building for lease. He said he will complete the renovations based on what any tenant wants -- an office building, perhaps, or maybe a restaurant; Jarmolowicz has kept the kitchen intact for the latter possibility.

"We are just waiting on a tenant," Jarmolowicz said. "They could have a million things they want to do."

The remaking of Carmen's is one of 2,892 projects for which the city of Erie issued building-related permits in 2014. The figure includes permits for new houses (three), plumbing (243), electrical work (1,048), and permits for additions and alterations to residential buildings (215) and nonresidential buildings, such as Carmen's (109).

The estimated value of all the work itemized in the permits is $97.6 million, according to the city's Bureau of Code Enforcement, up from $63.9 million in 2013, when the city issued 2,819 building-related permits. The figures were $108.2 million and 3,268 permits in 2012, and $70 million and 3,890 permits in 2011.

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2 old Erie buildings get new life