Rooms to replace old gym

by Hillary Copsey
Senior City Writer

Once they allowed body-builders to monitor their bulging biceps, but now the mirrors from the former Custom Bodies Gym will adorn the walls of the bedrooms being created in the building.

Property owner Mike L’Heureux said he decided to renovate the building, 9 Fern St., after the gym went out of business during the summer. Apartments seemed to be the best use of the space.

“We looked at businesses (to go in the building), but nothing fit in the space,” L’Heureux said. “I hate to lose a business, but I have to have a viable one.”

Construction to turn the building into three five-bedroom townhouses began at the end of November, L’Heureux said. Each 2,000-square-feet townhouse will be two stories and have a washer and dryer, a skylight, two balconies and three bathrooms.

Athens-based C&E Hardware, general contractors for the project, are on schedule to complete the apartments by June 2002, said Debbie Allen, L’Heureux Properties lease administrator. All three are rented for the 2002-03 school year, though no formal applications were taken.

When students came into L’Heureux Properties looking for five-bedroom housing units, Allen said they showed them the apartment plans.

“We just kind of got a feel for some really good kids,” she said.

Rent for the apartments is $1,200 per quarter, per person, including water and heat.

L’Heureux also must provide 15 parking spaces for the apartments, said Athens Code Director Steve Pierson. The spots are located in a lot between a video rental store and a gas station on East State Street.

But before the project started, L’Heureux had to modify his original plans for the building in order to maintain a right-of-way in the alley between his and three other properties.

Originally, plans showed balconies and stoops protruding four feet into the alley. According to easement agreements within L’Heureux’s deed, the alley must be at least 12 feet wide, and the balconies cut into this space, Pierson said.

“It wouldn’t have been a zoning violation, but there would have been a private easement violation,” Pierson said.

Kay Ledwith, who owns neighboring property on North Court Street said she was worried the original stoops and balconies would prevent her from getting through the alley.

“I was just interested in maintaining my right-of-way in the alley,” Ledwith said.

By mediating discussions between L’Heureux and neighboring property owners Ledwith, Jack Stauffer and John Pantakis, Pierson said the problem was resolved and he granted L’Heureux the building permit Oct. 8, two months after the original request.

After the modifications, the balconies will extend just 20 inches from the building, with the rest of the balcony being taken from inside the building. Though it will take about three feet from one bedroom in each apartment, L’Heureux said he does not think it is a substantial difference.