The Hungerford Building on East Main Street was once among the most vibrant artist enclaves in Rochester. Now, after years of decay, the building is facing foreclosure.
The lender on the property, Elizon DB Transfer Agent LLC, has filed a complaint in Monroe County Supreme Court against the building's Staten Island-based owner Peter Hungerford and his company, PH Realty Capital.
The complaint accuses Hungerford of defaulting on his loan. Hungerford purchased the building in 2022 using a mortgage of roughly $8.2 million. He currently owes about $7.6 million, according to court records.
While Hungerford received his first notice of default in March 2024, it wasn’t the last. He received two more notices in April and June 2024, before reaching an agreement with the lender that pushed the loan’s maturity date to December 2024. That didn’t change much — Hungerford defaulted again, with notices issued to him by the lender in April and July of this year, according to the complaint.
If the lender successfully forecloses on the property, it would need to inspect the property, resolve any taxes Hungerford has not paid, and resolve any building and zoning ordinance violations.
Constructed in 1900 as a manufacturing facility for flavored syrups used in candies and sodas, the Hungerford Building found a second life in the past few decades as a creative hub. At its peak, the building was considered an epicenter for the city’s artistic community, most notably for its flagship First Friday open gallery nights.
Hungerford is a distant relative of the building’s founder, J. Hungerford Smith. After he bought the building, it fell into a state of rapid decline. Tenants faced leaks and stagnant water, the scent of mold permeating every hallway, trash, and makeshift camps for homeless people who made it into the building. Many tenants left as the building continued to deteriorate.
Jennifer Buckley of Main Street Clay is one of the handful of remaining tenants. She also lives in the building’s loft area.
“He (Hungerford) doesn't talk to us,” she said. “And if he's talked to his quote-unquote staff, they're not sharing even with pointed questions from many of us, not just me. ‘What the heck is he doing? Why is he doing this?’”
Buckley said that for months she and other tenants in a building tenant union attempted to address concerns about problems in the building with Hungerford, but he entered radio silence. She said she hasn’t spoke directly with Hungerford in about a year and a half.
The building currently has 26 code violations, 17 of which are health- and safety-related, according to the city of Rochester. In July, the city cited the property for violations including multiple broken exterior doors, broken sinks in the bathrooms, and trash and debris in a unit. The building also has not had a certificate of occupancy since April.
Reached by phone, Hungerford was unclear on what his plan forward was. He placed blame on the city and tenants for the building’s woes.
“The city tripled my tax bill, does not protect the building from vandalism and homeless people, and the remaining members or tenants in the building aren't helping either,” Hungerford said.
Hungerford went on to say that he believed problems in the building were partly caused by tenants “letting people into the building.”
When interviewed in January, Hungerford had said his original plan for the building was to attract more tenants willing to pay a premium for high-value space, which in turn would allow him to keep rents low for longstanding artist tenants.
City property tax records show that Hungerford was current on his tax payments up until this year. His bill for 2026 shows a delinquent amount of $189,010.35, and a total tax bill of $363,630.19.
The year after Hungerford purchased the building, the city raised its assessed value from $1.4 million to $6.7 million, just about tripling his tax bill.
Last month, Country Manor Webster LLC, an entity owned by Hungerford, sold an apartment complex in Webster to Pennsylvania-based Morgan Properties for $46 million. The LLC had purchased the complex in 2021 for $29.8 million.
