Stone Mansion Updates

April 2007
May 2007
November 2008

April 27, 2007
Dear Neighbors - I have been remiss in the frequency of updates, so here goes the latest.................
We settled in February, after over 2 years of work (as you well know). Plans are reasonably complete for the restoration, and our carpenters are in and out on a frequent basis doing structural repair, window repair and other basic building repair work. If you haven't noticed, check out the dormer windows our Charles Widdon made.
That said, we will be in full construction swing by 7/1/07, with completion before 12/31/07. We must wait for the announcement of State Historic Tax Credits on 7/1/07 before starting the heavy work. It probably would be a good idea to meet face to face to review our plans and milestones, to be sure there are no conflicts with the neighborhood. Our working hours are planned for 7:00 am thru 5 pm, Mondays thru Fridays, with occasional work on Saturdays. None Sundays.

We have decided to move our own offices (azolainc.com) into the building so that we can be on-site to handle the inevitable issues that arise on these projects. We have enough interest now to fill the building. Prospective tenants include and accountant, insurance company, environmental engineering company, us, and overflow from "the other Ruscombe". We are proceeding with the local small café concept at this time too.

We have several hearings of interest regarding our application for listing on the national register of Historic Places. On May 8th CHAP will hold a hearing, and May 22nd, the Governor's Consulting Committee will make the final decision. CHAP continues to consider the building for the Baltimore City Landmarks List.

We will be getting the grass cut and keeping the place in decent repair thru the construction process. We received a complaint about a dead tree thru the grass cutter, but it wasn't clear. Please advise if you can. We will be thinning out "weed trees" and deadwooding the keepers soon. We are waiting for the final survey to confirm the fence location (not sure
whose property its on. The future repair/replacement issue needs to be addressed.
Buried oil tanks will be removed this summer.
Accent and security site lighting will be designed, and we will need to be sure it is not an annoyance to the neighbors.
Bradford Bank is the leading contender for financing.
Some sort of dedication - kickoff - groundbreaking event should be arranged.
Thoughts? You have all been so supportive, as has Ms. Rawlings-Blake. Open to suggestions.

We're out of thoughts at this point and will welcome your input or comments.

Sincerely, Marty, Lone, Tony, Mat and Kirsten Azola

May 11, 2007
Community Update on Stone Mansion

Here are some important points/issues:

1. We need to start now, and will finish by 12/31/07.
2. First tenant will occupy by July 15th.
3. The existing fence meanders on the HOA property and ours. Need to resolve.
4. We will be deadwooding trees and removing junk trees
5. Site work includes removal of oil tanks, grading and paving for parking.
6. Security lighting needs to be reviewed
7. We are now a Landmark – want to explain the benefits to the community
8. Azola & Associates, Inc. (our historic rehab company) will be a tenant in the basement.

Marty Azola

Ruscombe Reimagined
Mansion gets facelift as office building

By Adam Bednar
from Baltimore Messenger

abednar@patuxent.com
Posted 12/17/08
Mansion now office space

The last resident of the old Ruscombe Mansion was a rare bird.
In early 2006, a rare black vulture had built a nest on the third floor of the rundown, 145-year-old house at 4901 Springarden Drive, off Greenspring Avenue in Coldspring-Newtown.
That's when one rare bird met another. Azola and Associates, which has carved a unique niche rehabbing and redeveloping buildings that no one else would buy, arrived to revamp the 12,000-square-foot structure as an office building.
Because the vulture was an endangered species, the company had to work around it, until its eggs hatched and the flock flew away.
" It was a very ominous and nasty looking building," remembered Tony Azola, project developer for the family business. "It's the type of building we look for."
Two years and $1.2 million later, there's new life for the house, which Azola renamed Stone Mansion.
The building officially reopened in October and has five tenants at $17 a square foot, including a certified public accountant, a travel club, two eateries and the headquarters of the Jones Falls Watershed Association and Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, a watchdog group.
There are a couple of spaces available on the first and third floors and Azola hopes to rent the entire 3,000-square-foot second floor to one firm.
His company specializes in challenging rehab projects, Azola said. It's best known one was the Bromo Seltzer Tower downtown, now called the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower.
" We usually take on projects most (developers) don't want," Azola said.
The Stone Mansion involved not only preserving the historic elements of the house, but also gutting modern additions, such as drop ceilings.
The mansion, built in 1863 for James Wood Tyson, is considered the "sister mansion" to the nearby Cylburn Mansion, which was a summer home for his brother, Jesse.
Ruscombe was a residence until 1948, when Bais Yaakov, a Jewish girls school, moved into the building. The school remained there until the late 1970s. The property was sold to the city in 1978 and leased as office space, but by the fall of 1997 it was vacant and in disrepair. In July 2004, the city put out a request for proposals to local developers. Azola's bid was accepted the next year, but Azola didn't gain full control until 2006.
The house needed new ground floors because the existing ones had deteriorated to dirt. The main staircase, damaged by a fire in the 1950s, was now destroyed. Pipes had exploded and left the basement under three feet of water. The top floor held the biggest surprise, Azola said. As he climbed the stairs to check out the condition of the third floor, a large vulture swooped out of the dark and almost knocked him down the stairs.
The vulture made an already difficult rehab even more difficult. For six months, workers took on other parts of the house until the vulture and its young left, presumably to migrate south.
The company went to great lengths to restore the building to its original state, even consulting a rabbi -- here from Israel for a wedding at the time -- who had worked at Bais Yaakov when the school used the mansion, Azola said.
Together, they went through the school's records to get a clearer idea of what the house used to look like, Azola said.
It was all part of their zeal to restore what Azola called "the forgotten mansion" to the prominence that its sister mansion, Cylburn, enjoys.
" Our passion is to restore historic buildings," Azola said.