Downtown Binghamton Home Torn Down for Parking Spaces

Binghamton preservationists have lost their fight to prevent the demolition of a Court Street house built in 1885 to provide more parking for an office building.

FGR Realty of Vestal acquired the two-story structure at 188 Court Street for $140,000 in December 2023.

The company's Phil Akel told city officials he wanted to tear down the house to expand the parking lot for a building now leased by Guthrie for mental health services.

Crews from Gorick Construction arrived early Monday morning to set up orange fencing around the demolition site across the street from the Phelps Mansion Museum.

Workers started knocking down the rear portion of the house shortly before 10 a.m. Demolition operations were suspended around midday while people attended Mass at the neighboring St. Mary's Church.

The Preservation Association of the Southern Tier last spring expressed "strong opposition" to the plan to remove the building.

The group advised the city's Commission on Architecture and Urban design that the "distinctive materials, architectural features and examples of craftsmanship" remained intact in the house.

People who wanted to prevent the demolition had worked over the last several months to try to develop alternatives to acquire the property and renovate the house.

The efforts to keep the building were unsuccessful.

Philip Akel did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment on the demolition and a possible future tenant for the office building FGR Realty owns next to where the house had stood for 139 years.

That building - at 184 Court Street - was where the Akel family opened its first Giant Food Markets grocery store in December 1932.

WNBF NEWS VIDEOS: Watch as the Court Street demolition project got underway on December 9, 2024. 

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.