By Charley Hannagan / The Post-Standard
November 05, 2009, 2:58PM
Syracuse, NY--The Downtown Committee of Syracuse Inc. has provided an entrepreneur with a $30,000 grant to renovate a Clinton Street building into a studio apartment and Middle Eastern restaurant.
Fady Khabbaz, 32, of Armory Square, today said the renovation of 223 N. Clinton St. is the first of what he hopes will be several developments. Khabbaz would not say how much the project cost.
Khabbaz hired Ben Coir, of Darrell Coir Floors Inc. to restore the building’s brick facade, install new windows, a roof, and completely renovated a former storage space upstairs into a studio apartment. The apartment is listed at $2,200 a month, he said.
Coir also renovated the first floor restaurant space by adding hardwood floors, ceiling lights, a new bathroom, ventilation system and kitchen equipment.
The restaurant called Byblos will be run by his mother Violette Khabbaz, who formerly had a Middle Eastern restaurant in North Syracuse and now runs a catering business on the side.
Khabbaz received his master’s in business administration from Syracuse University’s Whitman School and formerly sold advertising for The Post-Standard. He said he’s always been attracted to Syracuse’s buildings.
“I’ve always liked Syracuse for the buildings and the people,” he said.
Khabbaz said he and his brother Waleed Khabbaz are actively looking at other buildings in the downtown to renovate.