A longtime Woodstock-area architect, designer, and builder has acquired the commercial property at 71 Central Street in Woodstock Village, which previously housed the Melaza Bistro restaurant.
Alfonse Sorrentino of ACS Design/Build, Inc., closed on the purchase of the Central Street property on Dec. 5. The previous owner of the commercial building was Lynn Simmons, a Florida resident, according to Woodstock realtor John Wetmore, who handled the real estate transaction.
Contacted by phone on Tuesday morning, Sorrentino spoke about his tentative plans for the renovation and reinvention of the 71 Central Street commercial building — plans that he said were still “very much in flux.” The building presently includes three separate condominium units on two floors. Melaza Bistro previously leased three-quarters of the space for its restaurant, kitchen, and office operations, Sorrentino said.
“At this point, I believe the upper level will be used for residential — one or two condos — and the lower space will most likely be for retail or a restaurant, some commercial use,” Sorrentino said on Tuesday. “It’s going to be up to the end user. I have some pretty strong ideas of what would work in that lower space, but ultimately, I would either be a landlord or sell the three spaces. They will all be condominiums. Those are currently my tentative plans. I recognize that it’s a significant location in the downtown commercial zone. The building was in terrible disrepair, and I think it has some real potential,” Sorrentino continued.
The developer did not spell out a specific timeframe for the building renovation. “I think I’m going to do repairs and the additions — they will happen first — and then I don’t know when we’ll come to market with the finished products. Who knows? Maybe we’ll come to market before they’re completely built out, in particular, the retail space. It would be nice to partner with the end-user early on in the process, absolutely. Right now, I really don’t have a whole lot of information that you can hang your hat on.”
Melaza Bistro ceased operations at 71 Central Street in November, as the sale of the property to Sorrentino was being finalized. During a brief Tuesday afternoon phone conversation, Melaza chef/owner David Diaz said he was not yet prepared to say what his plans might be to operate any future restaurant in Woodstock.
