Batavia wonders what now for Campana building

BATAVIA – So what's next for the Campana landmark? The plan for 80 apartment units has gone away, but the Batavia structure still stands and the owner is trying to figure out its future.

“I think we are going to try to lease it up,” Campana owner Frank Mares said. “We’re going to address some of the maintenance issues.”

The building is zoned under the city of Batavia’s mixed-use classification, with a long list of potential business uses that would be allowed at the site.

Right now, the mammoth factory building and additions are about 60 percent occupied, with more than a dozen enterprises doing business in the structure at 901 N. Batavia Ave., Batavia.

These range from a mattress retail store and a costume shop to several sports training facilities. The building also is home to a mainframe computer outfit and a number of home decor businesses.

“The building is great,” Mares said. “I’m still positive about this building.”

Chicago-based Evergreen Real Estate Group recently withdrew the zoning petition for its apartment plan, because the proposal needed 10 votes from the 14-member Batavia City Council, but only nine aldermen were in support.

The 10-vote supermajority on the council was required because of a legal protest filed by the owner of an office park in Geneva that shares a property line with the Campana site.

Mares said he was disappointed that Evergreen’s proposal could not gain approval from aldermen.

“The developer offered everything they wanted,” Mares said, adding that some of the comments from council members leave him unsure as to what they might approve.

“I don’t know what all of this means as we move forward,” Mares said.

However, there are many permitted uses for which Mares would not need council authorization, and many more that would require a conditional use permit but not a zoning change.

Permitted uses include health care facilities, laboratories, offices, schools, senior housing, laundry services, child care facilities and animal grooming or clinic. The permitted uses also allow mail order, catalog or Internet sales, media studios and customer service centers.

Mares said he is interested in the idea of promoting the building for live-and-work loft housing, and that this might be the building’s niche.

Uses that could be allowed, but which would require a conditional use permit, include tattoo, massage and fortune-telling establishments, smoking lounges, churches or other religious assembly entities, as well as maintenance and repair facilities.

A teen nightclub also would be allowed with a conditional use permit, as would an indoor flea market or auction house. General retail sales are permitted, while a convenience retail store would require the conditional use permit.