5 hours Ago By Jeff Kiger
ROCHESTER — Bringing a 105-year-old building back to life as The Social at the Avalon has been “a long road” for Natalie Victoria and Christine Stahl , but the historic former hotel is finally ready to operate as an events center, hair salon and more. The three-story brick building at 301 N. Broadway Ave.
was constructed in 1919 as a hotel. It made history as a place that welcomed Jewish and Black people, when most hotels refused them at the time. ADVERTISEMENT When Victoria and Stahl purchased it for $1.
8 million in December 2023, they didn’t plan on such an elaborate project. Renovating a landmark building listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places turned into an elaborated and time-consuming effort. “When we started this, we thought of it more as a turnkey project.
The more we dove into it and realized the history of the building, we just decided that we had to throw a little bit more at this. ..
. It was really kind of nerve wracking going through this process. We wanted to do it right .
.. do it justice,” said Stahl.
“It has been a long road.” They worked with the state, architects and Rochester’s Benike construction firm to preserve the classic style of the building. While it was more elaborate than others, this wasn’t the first time Victoria and Stahl launched a new business in Rochester.
They own The Tap House and Tap House West restaurants in Rochester. Victoria is also an owner of Victoria's Ristorante & Wine Bar . Victoria compared The Social project to the development of their original Tap House, which involved the renovation of the 150-year-old Kennedy Building on Rochester’s Historic Third Street.
“First, we fell in love with the Tap House building . The concept came later. It was like that with this building,” she said standing by the 1920s-themed bar in the renovated ground level of The Social at the Avalon.
While they are still finishing touches to be completed, a few events have already been held in the main level of The Social and more are scheduled for this summer. The duo are hopeful that people looking for space for a party or a meeting will be interested ADVERTISEMENT Since many of the events are catered with food prepared at The Tap House or Victoria’s, the full kitchen on the main level of The Social is not always needed. That has allowed Victoria and Stahl to lease out the kitchen.
Baker Becca Johnson is using the kitchen for Becca’s Sweet Tooth to bake special ordered treats and host classes for cake decorating and other related skills. Chef Matt Ranfranz also uses the kitchen for his Gifted Gourmet personal chef and catering business. On the second floor, Rochester stylist Cheryl Scranton has launched Hair & Co.
at the Avalon . Hair & Co. is a “booth rent” salon with 12 treatment chairs.
“Each stylist artist runs their own chair. We're all independent with our own specialties and our own branding, but we work in a team based environment,” explained Scranton. She is starting out with four stylists plus a treatment.
Beauty artist Ashlea Dalton is operating Brow and Lash By Ash in the treatment room. “She's very cool and offers some really, really amazing services,” said Scranton of Dalton. ADVERTISEMENT The third floor of The Social at the Avalon houses two renovated apartments that overlook Broadway.
There are also office spaces available to lease in the building. All of these new businesses follow in the footsteps of many that have operated in the landmark building over the years. It was built in 1919 by a Jewish man named Sam Sternberg as the Northwestern Hotel , a place where Jewish people could stay at a time when most hotels refused them.
Verne Manning purchased the building in 1944 and changed the hotel's name to the Avalon Hotel . It was the first hotel in Rochester to accept Black guests, as well as whites. Well-known people such as Duke Ellington stayed at the Avalon Hotel throughout its history.
By the 1980s, the building was abandoned and falling apart. Myrna Hamilton purchased it for $90,000 in 1987 and renovated it to house her Hamilton Music store with students performing music recitals on the second floor, where Hair & Co. is now located.
When Hamilton retired in 2008 , Stephen Lalama bought the building for $462,791. He moved his Rochester Pro Music business into it and changed the name to Avalon Music to honor the building's history. In 2017-2018, it was expanded on the east and back sides to add more space for Chef Deirdre Conroy’s Le Petit Café , which later closed.
ADVERTISEMENT Chef Youness Bojji and his wife, Amber Bojji, opened Chez Bojji in the restaurant space in 2020. Chez Bojji closed in June of 2023..
