Fancher Properties

Taylor McCabe, of McCabe Enterprises, an electrical contractor, was one of four contractors on a job site at Brickhouse Corners in Pembroke to introduce students to the building trades.

Owner and developer Randy Fancher said he and his brother thought their mixed-use development -- retail and apartments -- was a good job site to show young people what a construction site is like and hear about the kind of work available in different facets of construction.

Besides electrical, students -- and their parents and grandparents -- learned about drywall, HVAC, and plumbing.

"We're letting kids know there are opportunities in the building trades," Fancher said.

For more on the development, click here.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Brian Stevens of DWC Mechanical talks about pipes with a group of students.

Cindy Merritt tries her hand at putting a screw into drywall.

Press release:

J&R Fancher Property Holdings LLC broke ground this afternoon on their 14,000 sq. ft. mixed-use development in the town of Pembroke at Buffalo East Technology Park. The 2-story mixed-use building will be built on 2.6 acres located less than a mile from Interstate 90.

The $1.7 million investment includes 6 market-rate 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments on the second floor, and a 7,000 "vanilla" box interior space to attract commercial tenants.

“Genesee County continues to support housing growth and community investment and we are very excited to support their vision through our development,” said J&R Fancher Property Holdings LLC CEO Randy Fancher. “Our development is in a strategic location that we are confident can help attract prospective workers to one of the many businesses in the surrounding area, including the existing businesses in the technology park.”

Local officials praised J&R Fancher Property Holdings LLC’s investment, citing the opportunities revealed in various housing studies. The addition of market-rate housing for recent projects is a critical component to realizing the benefits of economic development in Genesee County, said GCEDC President and CEO Steve Hyde.

“We’re very excited to work with a local homegrown company that values our community and vision of the future,” said Hyde. “With J&R Fancher Property Holdings and other significant investments of late in our housing stock, we’re seeing investments that are essential to our growth and the increasing number of career opportunities at companies across the county.”

Photos by Alecia Kaus/Video News Service.

Randy Fancher, president of J&R Specialties of Akron, citing ongoing supply chain issues and inflation, presented a fourth version of his company’s plan to develop three parcels at the corner of Route 5 and Route 77 in the Town of Pembroke to the Genesee County Planning Board tonight.

“We’ve been here before,” said Fancher, speaking of the planning board’s previous approvals of the Brickhouse Commons LLC mixed-use project – a pair of buildings combining retail and residential near Brickhouse Corners Drive and Tim Hortons, and across from Pembroke High School.

While that venture is still on the table, Fancher and his brother, Jeff, vice president, now are proposing to construct a 42,000-square-foot warehouse and office building – between the two mixed-use structures.

“Our core business needs have changed drastically over the last year with all the supply chain issues and inflation, and so we are now having to stock way more product than in the past,” he said. “So, now this is our core need for this warehouse.”

Fancher told The Batavian that the company’s current set-up – working out of three separate facilities in Akron – is “extremely inefficient.”

“As everything in the world has changed recently, we have decided it would be much more efficient to build a new warehouse/office complex large enough to have everything under one roof,” he said.

Pending final approvals from the town and other agencies, the Fanchers said they are committed to developing the warehouse/office first, followed by the mixed-use apartments/retail space and, eventually, a three-story mixed use building with commercial on the first floor and 17 apartments on the second and third floors farther south along Route 77.

Fancher said that J&R Specialties already has received approvals for the mixed-use buildings, which are located in the Genesee County Economic Development Center’s Buffalo East Technology Park in the town’s Interchange District.

Planning Board member Tom Schubmehl, a Pembroke resident, asked Fancher about the amount of truck traffic the warehousing operation would produce.

Fancher replied that the plan calls for the loading dock to accommodate three tractor-trailers at any time, adding that he figures there will be three to five semis at the location per day.

“… the drawing we submitted was only a conceptual,” he said. “We had to check with the Town of Pembroke to see if they needed curbs -- what their curb requirements were. Once we get approval, we’ll move into an actual site plan and then we can address semi flow.”

Planning Board Chair Laraine Caton noted that the intersection will become quite contested before Planning Director Felipe Oltramari mentioned that the trucks will enter and exit from Brickhouse Corners Drive, which is off of Route 5.

The board then recommended approval of the site plan, with modifications pertaining to acquisition of a stormwater permit, signage that complies with the town’s zoning regulations, and meeting Enhanced 9-1-1 standards and (the recently added) public safety radio system in-building coverage requirements.

PEMBROKE IN THE CANNABIS ‘ZONE’

The planning board also recommended approval of the Town of Pembroke’s desire to amend its zoning test to include “cannabis related businesses” throughout the 41.7-square-mile municipality.

The town has opted in to allow cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption establishments in accordance with New York State’s Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act. Other Genesee County communities that opted in are the City of Batavia, Towns of Darien and Pavilion, and Village of Corfu.

The text amendment would allow for cannabis related businesses to operate with a special use permit.

Schubmehl commented that Pembroke will become “the county’s business center for marijuana distribution,” prompting Oltramari to advise that cannabis sales already are taking place on the nearby Tonawanda Seneca Nation Reservation.

INCENTIVE TO COMPLETE SURVEY

Oltramari said that Genesee County is number one in the state thus far in terms of people responding to an online survey about broadband access (www.geneseebroadband.com). He said that 3 percent of households have filled out the survey, which is twice as much as any other county.

County residents completing the survey can enter a drawing for a “Dine, Stay & Play Package” at Batavia Downs Gaming which includes a one-night stay for two at the Hotel at Batavia Downs and $50 towards a meal at Fortune’s restaurant (valid Sunday-Thursday).

The planning director said he will be presenting the Genesee 2050 Comprehensive Plan and Recreation Plan to the County Legislature’s Public Service Committee next Tuesday.

Drawing above: Brickhouse Commons site plan -- Route 5 (Main Road) is at right; Route 77 (Alleghany Road) is at the bottom. The proposed warehouse/office building is located between the two proposed commercial/residential buildings. 

Previously: GCEDC board approves assistance for Pembroke mixed-use project

Randy Fancher, president of Fancher Properties of Akron, is returning to the Genesee County Planning Board on Thursday night for a third time to propose a revised site plan for a mixed-use project on Main Road between Brickhouse Corners Drive and Tim Hortons in the Town of Pembroke.

The latest version has Fancher Properties of Akron, doing business as Brickhouse Commons LLC, constructing a two-story building with 7,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and six market rate apartments on the second floor, along with driveways, parking lots and a six-bay tenant parking garage to the south.

A review of his site plan is on the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting starting at 7 o’clock at County Building 2 on West Main Street Road.

“This is basically the third version considering changes requested by the DOT (NYS Department of Transportation) and issues with wetlands,” Fancher said. “So, this is where we have to start until we hear back from the Army Corps of Engineers on our request for wetland reclassification, which could take up to a year. We didn’t want to wait so we decided to get started here.”

Fancher said that his company will begin construction once all permits are obtained and verbal commitments for tax incentives from the Genesee County Economic Development Center are approved.

“We’re looking to start in the late fall and hope to have the building up about a year from now,” he said.

The project has changed in scope from what Fancher Properties proposed last June – going from a three-story mixed-use building with retail on the first floor and 17 apartments on the top two floors.

In January of this year, the company modified its plan to a two-story mixed-use building along with two buildings housing 12 apartments.

“Last year, we were already to go but then the DOT said that we couldn’t have a driveway onto Route 77,” Fancher said. “We’ve had a few challenges up to this point but we’re working through them.”

Because of the DOT’s concerns, the company moved the location from Route 77 to Main Road (Route 5).

“We’re still on the corner, basically, but instead of building on Route 77, we’re on Route 5,” Fancher said, adding that the venture was delayed because the DOT would not allow a curb cut onto Route 77,

“We have to connect a road from Route 77 over to Brickhouse Corners Road, which is where Yancey’s Fancy is located. There are wetlands there and we’ve applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for reclassification because, right now, the road has a big curve in it,” he said. “Once we get that approval, we can continue on to Phase 2 and Phase 3, which will consist of more retail and more apartments.”

The development’s location is the GCEDC’s Buffalo East Technology Park in the Town of Pembroke’s Interchange District.

Fancher said he and his brother, Jeff, company vice president, plan to reach out to companies such as Starbucks or Mighty Taco to gauge their interest in placing a store at the site.

Other referrals on tomorrow’s planning board agenda include:

-- Downtown design review for a new façade, lighting and signage on one side of the Batavia Tailors & Cleaners building at 33-39 Ellicott St., along with a new rooftop heating and air conditioning unit.

-- Downtown design review for the addition of four wall-mounted canopies, one large structural entrance canopy, new wall paneling and new freestanding signage at Fieldstone Private Wealth, 219 East Main St., at the intersection of Summit Street. The project is part of the New York Main Street grant program administered by the Batavia Development Corp.

-- Downtown design review of the Healthy Living Campus project in the city, with developers seeking approval to remove multiple buildings and construct new ones.

-- Site plan review and sign permit request from Zambito Realtors to convert a dwelling into a new realty office across from Applebee’s on Lewiston Road. The project includes siding, windows, and removing a breezeway to make it into an office with handicap ramp.

-- Site plan review and special use permit in a Commercial district for Alvamar Healthy Foods to use 1,000 square feet on the first floor of the Masonic Temple building at 12 S. Lake Ave. in Bergen for freeze drying, warehousing and shipping of healthy snacks.

Owners Eddie Alvord and Michael Marsocci’s application indicates that Phase 2 would be the addition of retail space in the front area of the building to dispense healthy snack foods with no preservatives.

-- Site plan review for Tamara Parker to reuse an existing storefront at 22 East Main St., Corfu, for a sign and vinyl graphics business to be known as TMP Signs.

-- Special use permit for PCORE Electric, Inc., 135 Gilbert St., Le Roy, to build a 227 square-foot addition for an office.

Photo: Architect's rendering of Brickhouse Commons mixed-use building proposed by Fancher Properties of Akron near the intersection of Route 5 and Route 77 in the Town of Pembroke.