Greg Peck: What, exactly, is happening to this home?
PrintI'm thinking I first spotted the home at least a month ago. It's at 343 S. Ringold St. in Janesville. I drive by it on Sundays on my way to St. John Vianney Catholic Church on Racine Street. It looks like someone tore half of it down, stripped the rest of whatever siding it had and left it sit. If anyone is making progress toward restoration, I haven't noticed it. If I were a neighbor, I'd be annoyed.
I inquired about the home in an email to the city March 10 and got this reply from Timothy Gorman, property maintenance specialist with the city's Neighborhood and Community Services:
“I checked on this property and found that the property owner had recently took out building permits to totally remodel this property. The permit was issued on 3/6/15, so hopefully what you're seeing is progress. The permit involves repairing foundation walls and raising the second floor, so it may take some time.”
Gorman also wrote that apparently Lonny Pastorius of Edgerton bought the home last July.
I drove by again Sunday, and I still didn't detect any change.
So I contacted the city again Tuesday and got Patorius' phone number off the building permit. Then I called him and have good news—at least for neighbors who might at this point think this unfinished project is becoming an eyesore.
Pastorius says he's redoing the house and plans to live there. He wants to do the job right and just recently got the last of permits needed after several meetings with city employees. He says a previous owner had cobbled the place together, and his project will improve the place, make it meet code and create a full second story instead of the previous story-and-a-half design.
The weather in recent days didn't do him any favors, but he's hoping to get concrete work done yet this week or next. Once the cement sets up, reconstruction can start.
Pastorius says he went around talking about his plan with neighbors and that they were all “tickled pink” to hear about it.
I'm sure they'll also be tickled pink to see more progress.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or [email protected]. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.