SOUTH DEERFIELD — The three-story building at the corner of Park and Graves streets has had three separate owners since it was built around 1900.
As of Dec. 11, Jason Kicza and Justin Killeen have added their names to the list that includes Joseph Gorey and the town of Deerfield.
The two entrepreneurs bought the white building and the six-family apartment complex at 23 Graves St. from Gorey for $1.25 million. The 4,721-square-foot building, which consists of four apartments and two commercial spaces occupied by Sobieski Financial and O’Connell Care at Home, was sold for $675,000, and the house cost $575,000. The purchase adds to the buyers’ downtown property holdings, having purchased 55 North Main St. on the opposite side of the town common in January.
The building has formerly been the home of Deerfield Town Offices (including the Deerfield Police Department) and Produce National Bank. Kicza and Killeen say they have made it their mission to rehabilitate and rejuvenate Deerfield’s hub.
“It had a classic feel to it, and we wanted to highlight the center of town a little bit more. We just finished the project over there,” Killeen said, referring to the building at 55 North Main St., “so we were looking for something close by to do something similar.”
The 55 North Main St. building across the way holds Ciesluk’s Market, The Tavern, a Bueno Y Sano eatery and Leo’s Table restaurant, formerly Jerry’s Place. It also consists of 19 apartments on the second floor.
As for the 23 Graves St. building, Kicza, 36, and Killeen, 29, said three of the apartments are occupied and minor cosmetic work is being done on the fourth. Kicza said it will be completed by Jan. 1.
“Everything’s just going to be modernized,” Killeen said.
Kicza and Killeen continue to enlist the help of Gary Dzwonkus and Peter Winn, who assisted in restoring 55 North Main St. Dzwonkus said their work includes painting and woodworking.
Gorey, 66, said he reached out to Kicza and Killeen to buy the building at 23 Graves St. because his son knows them and they have a great reputation in town.
“I decided to sell it to them because they’re doing a good job and they are not going to let things go by the wayside,” he said. “They seem to be excellent landlords.”
Gorey explained he bought the building from the town in 1997 and put a lot of time and money into it. He said the Town Offices and Police Department moved to the old grammar school, its current spot. When the building was built in the early 1900s, it was called Produce National Bank because it made loans to local farmers. Gorey’s great-uncle, Walter Gorey, was even the bank’s president for many years. Gorey said he still owns other properties in Deerfield.
John Nove, president of the Deerfield Historical Commission, said many local banks in the early 1900s printed their own paper currency. He said he has purchased some of the notes off eBay.
According to antiquemoney.com, the Produce National Bank of South Deerfield printed $1,001,940 of national currency in eight types and denominations. The bank reportedly stopped printing money in 1935.