It has been many years since I watched the movie DIVA, but I have always remembered the character Alba roller skating in a very cool industrial loft space. That was when I owned a pair of roller blades, however I had not mastered the art of stopping. Watching the movie, I thought how great it would be to rollerblade within the confines of a spacious loft space and not worry about hills, curves and other obstacles. Hold that thought.

My husband and I own a small summer car that we have been storing in a friend’s garage on Grand Island where each spring we retrieve the car only to find the battery will not hold a charge. After determining the car needed to be trickle charged we began the search for an inexpensive garage space with a power outlet, maybe a small ranch, a carriage house, an abandoned car repair shop or maybe a tiny warehouse.

We investigated the options only to find there were none until we spotted this old industrial building. It was larger than what we were looking for, but it had two garage doors and as an interior designer and architect respectively, we were curious to see the building in person. We contacted the listing realtor and met him at the site. After scoping out the first floor we proceeded up the stairs to the second floor. We took a few steps into the space and immediately glanced at each other, but said nothing. Driving back to our office we relayed our impressions to each other... large windows! bright expansive space! 15’ high ceilings! and great character! It's a wreck! We decided to put in an offer, but not get our hopes up, as we felt it was a long shot.

To make a long story short, we are now the proud owners of this building and we have some great ideas spinning around in our creative minds. Stay tuned for updates when we firm up our plans. In the meantime, I think I will check to see if I still have my rollerblades!

Note: This is not our first restoration, read about our year 2000 purchase and restoration of 505 Franklin Street!