Work Begins on Bleitz

It has been over two years since the Landmarks Preservation Board protected the Bleitz Funeral Home at 316 Florentia St. with landmark designation. We wrote about the history of that business and building about the same time. You can find that article here. 'Today' in the caption below referred to the building at the time of nomination.

Since 2017, the building has stood empty and lonely in the embrace of a menacing chain link fence. We've worried that nothing was ever going to happen and that we might lose the Bleitz entirely.

Well we are delighted to report that following the sale of the site to a second developer, work began this week (August 12-16, 2019) with the demolition of the 1989 addition on the west side of the original 1921 building and the removal of the surface parking lot to its west.

The old parking lot will see the construction of a small office building, while the original building will be converted into additional office spaces. The recently exposed western wall of the building will remain visible following construction of the new office structure. All of this work has been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Board.