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The Professional Building Sees Major Upscale Façade Renovations
Dan Soules, owner of 33 William Street, has done extensive improvements to the building's exterior with low-interest flexible financing through the City's Downtown Façade Program, and matching financial help from the NYS Main Street Grant Program, administered by the Downtown Auburn BID. Updates include replacing all the brick work with stone, incorporating an attractive new color scheme, adding green space and landscaping, upgrading each business entry with a new door and switching all the exterior lights to LED.
Q&A with Dan Soules
How long have you owned the Professional Building?
We have owned the Auburn Professional building for about 4 years.
What are the improvements that are happening? Who is doing the work?
Many changes have been made to the complex, but first, note that our intentions were to work hand-in-hand with the City of Auburn. Second, was to work with the BID and third with private business.
The Professional Building is a subsidiary of Soules Development Group, plus we had additional project partners Mark Dunn and Adam Fritz. Our goals were many- First was to be more green in all of our efforts. Such as changing HVAC systems to be 95% efficient. To replace and add new lighting with LED high efficient fixtures. To add as much natural green elements as possible including cedar posts, mission style mahogany stained doors, and stacked stone to soften the exterior’s over all appearance. We added soft lighting on timers to illuminate where and when needed. We added 1000’s of sq. ft. of green area to partner with the City of Auburn, and show our commitment to enhancing the natural surroundings.
Our design for the landscape was again a natural look of a continual stream beds flowing from and through out the property. All of the new signage whether business, directory or location were designed with soft natural colors and materials to add warmth to the overall appearance. We even constructed stone chimneys on William Street and the top of Easterly to bring in warmth, softness and depth. In our landscaping, we used boulders and river stone from the local farms to tie into the stone façade and our surrounding agricultural landscape. The colors choices for the building were meant to be complimentary to the adjoining structures—most importantly—Seward House Museum.
We used natural earthy colors from nature, hoping that visitors to the complex will feel the more relaxed side of life. We are adding several Locust trees along West Lake Street to again soften the overall look. We added oil rubbed bronze hardware, new black mail boxes and mission style wall sconces that further refine the look at every entrance.
Roof repairs included new drip edges and a recoating of the entire roof surface. All of our drains were tied in with the cedar beams flowing directly into the City’s new catch basins. New curbing, sidewalks and a beautiful median was placed within the parking lot to eliminate unsightly signage on William Street. We replaced all existing toilets with the most up-to-date water efficiency models. We will conclude the project by shimming and paving all of the parking areas. I have left out numerous other areas we updated. Simply, our goal was to tie into the natural environment, keeping efficiency in mind, always honoring our partnership and responsibility to Auburn, and those who live here today, as well as tomorrow.
Was there anything that inspired you design-wise during this process?
For those who know me I am always inspired- it’s in my chemistry. Beyond that, I have honestly been so moved by the incredible transformation of our City through the dedicated work of Mark Palesh and City staff. Between Jenny Haines, Trish Ottley, Bill Lupien, Steve Selvek, Connie Reilley (with BID) and Marge Conley (with Homesite), plus many others, our partnership and vision was seamless. I can’t tell you how excited we’ve been to give back to the place we all call home. Our companies do developments all up and down the east coast. There was a strong sense of giving back, in sharing this project with Auburn.
How did you benefit from the Downtown BID's NYS Main Street funds?
Though the funds were not the bulk of the total investment, they certainly were the foundation for moving this project forward. Truly, I can say the assistance from the BID ignited and convinced me to reinvest in an area that covers two city blocks. I will be very honest, if not for Connie Reilley’s pure professional attitude and commitment; we may have gone out of state, where presently 85% of our development exists.
What will the end result of the project be?
More than I would have ever expected. Beyond the value of the building, and the future potential income, my partners and I are simply proud. To think how one project, small in nature, can and should domino in to many more projects is wonderful. People often ask why our children don’t stay in Auburn and the greater Cayuga County area. We know there are several reasons; one I believe is quality of life. If you don’t want to reinvest in Auburn for yourself, then find the strength to do it for our children.
Every single person has both a public and private obligation to give back. I believe the time is now. We have very forward thinking leaders here in Auburn, maybe the best in a long time, that have a clear vision of what our city should be. We have private business teaming up with government, which is very exciting. I am so glad to have the opportunity to make a difference, how cool is that!
Are there any other projects in the works?
Our company employees over 750 employees in four states. If we ever stop growing, even for one year, we would be letting down all of our great employees and their families that rely on us for jobs and identity. We do have several exciting development opportunities that could come to fruition in Cayuga County. If Mark Palesh has his way, we would be doing new projects in Auburn exclusively, which shows his vision and commitment. We would love to be here with our families, our friends and fellow business partners, sharing in all of the greatness Auburn has to offer.
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