Photo: Eugene Driscoll
Alex Zou (left) and Frank Pepe (right).
The new owner of an old property on Roosevelt Drive hopes to transform the run down building into a warehouse for his business based in Queens.
Alex Zou purchased 150 Roosevelt Drive April 26, 2017 for $307,000, according to a deed on file in Derby City Hall.
It’s the former Derby Cellular Products property, across the street from the Dew Drop Inn. Derby Cellular closed in 2009.
Zou manufactures aquariums for homes, along with high-end aquariums for hotels and restaurants. The larger tanks can sell for up to $54,000, according to his company’s website.
It’s a trade he taught himself growing up in China.
He has about 60 employees in China and the U.S. He has a store in Maspeth, N.Y.
Earlier this month Zou hired Frank Pepe’s contracting company to demolish about 20,000 square feet of the rear of the old industrial building on Roosevelt Drive/Route 34.
Zou plans to put a loading dock and parking in the back. The building was marketed “as is,” and Zou said the previous owners stripped anything of value from the interior of the structure.
“My heart sinks when I see a property like this because it’s been abandoned. Everything inside was ripped out,” he said. “All the copper, wires, everything.”
If all goes as planned, Zou said he’d like to start using the property as a manufacturing site.
Fixing the interior must happen first, though.
“I have about two years of work ahead of me,” he said.
Zou purchased in Derby because the price was right and the location wasn’t too far away from where his home and businesses are based.
“Spaces this size near New York City are too expensive,” he said. “I needed to find some place that wasn’t too expensive and too far from New York City.”
Roosevelt Drive is dotted with ugly industrial buildings well past their prime. But there’s been an uptick in renovations happening. Bad Sons Brewery, Calvert Safe & Lock and Roosevelt Tower Antiques have all either renovated old buildings or built anew.
Pepe, a contractor in Derby for 32 years, said the economy finally seems to be on the uptick locally.
“I see people buying property and moving in,” he said. “People want to find property to develop. It feels like the market is coming around now.”
Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan said he’s happy to see the property being used again.
“This shows that Derby is still a desirable City to work out of, with its close proximity to major highways,” the mayor said.
Contributed Photo
(Left to right) Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan, Frank Pepe, and city economic development official Carmen DiCenso.
