A group of local citizens and organizations continue fighting to keep a building near the Genesee Brewery from being torn down.
Carlos Mercado submitted an application to the city's Preservation Board requesting the city recognize the former brewery warehouse as a historical landmark.
He says he hopes the process stalls the permit allowing North American Breweries to demolish the century old building.
The company wants to create additional parking spaces for a planned visitors center, museum, and beer tasting room.
Mercado says Rochester has already lost a few historic sites, and preserving this one would be good for the area, “When you restore these buildings and adapt them to new use, they become the anchors for redevelopment. They go back on the tax rolls, their assessment goes up, more income for the city, you have residences, you have businesses. You have more permanent stable employment going on.”
Mercado says in beginning the process for the brew house to become a historical landmark, a majority of the city's Preservation Board must support it.
Mercado says he's hopeful that decision comes as soon as the Board's next meeting on March 7th.