F & M Building undergoing renovations

Historic structure is now fully leased

WEST CHESTER » With a tip of his hat to the past, and the installation of state-ofthe-art improvements, the Farmers and Mechanics Trust Company building is being lovingly restored by owner Tom Myles.

Until the Justice Center opened in 2008, the sixstory F & M Building was the tallest building in the borough.

Myles likes to say that the structure at Market and High streets is still the tallest “privately owned” building in town.

The 1908-era structure was owned by the F & M bank that went out of business during the Great Depression in the 1920s.

The Daily Local News once occupied the building, Continental Bank was a long-term mainstay on the ground floor, the United Way was housed there and diners toasted the rooftop view at the Garden Room Restaurant. During World War II, the Civil Air Patrol manned the roof and most recently medical firm Synchrony occupied the historic building.

What was at one time state-of-the-art construction at the F & M Building became archaic.

Myles bought the building in November of 2013, and after about a year of work, expects renovations to be completed by this summer.

All six floors of the building are fully leased, with a financial company located on the sixth floor. Testo, which makes testing equipment for machines, will take up space on the fourth and fifth floors and align. Space, a co-working and growth incubator space, will be located on the lower three floors.

Room for group meeting space and functions will give the public a chance to gasp at the renovated interior of the historic structure.

“The bones of the building were good, but the mechanics were a disaster,” Myles said.

The building featured the finest technologically-advanced office space at the time of construction, Seth Gentile, project manager, said.

Electric, mechanical and HVAC at the building now are all brand new.

At one time the building housed 70 offices. Each office contained a sink and running water, which was a big selling point in 1908.

Electricity was originally produced in the basement by a dynamo, and the offices featured gas lamps.

Very little wood was used during construction of the “fire-proof” structure that featured cement, terracotta flooring and steel construction.

“It was technologically superior at the time of construction — that’s probably why it lasted in such good shape,” Gentile said.

From the roof on a clear day, the clouds at Limerick Generation Station, the rooftops of buildings at West Chester University campus, the county building, the hills of Downingtown, and a close-up view of the Historic Courthouse are all visible.

“It’s by far the best view in town,” according to leasing agent Tommy Ciccarone, Precision Realty.

Myles is excited that new employees will be shopping and dining in the borough.

“The revitalization of this building and the fact that it’s fully leased provides the borough with a positive economic impact unlike this building has ever produced before,” Myles said.

Much of the original mosaic tile, hand marble mosaics and interior brickwork were unearthed and will be displayed, along with much of the walnut flooring and an exposed ceiling.

The building will feature high efficiency heat pumps and LED lighting.

Gentile said that the construction crew is uncovering features that nobody has seen in 60 to 70 years.

SUBMITTED PHOTO F & M Building owner Tom Myles, left, Seth Gentile, project manager, and Tommy Ciccarone, leasing agent, celebrate full leasing capacity at the F & M Building in West Chester.

BILL RETTEW JR. – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA The renovated lobby of the F & M Building.

BILL RETTEW JR. – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA The historic F & M Building in West Chester is undergoing renovations and is fully leased.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The renovated cherry and mosaic floors at the F & M Building are spectacular.