Start a church or open a dental office in a former Erie funeral home? Jim Scott has just the place

W. James "Jim" Scott has a deep affinity for the nearly 7,000-square-foot southeast Erie property where he made his living for more than four decades.

But he knows it’s time to let go.

Scott is in no hurry to find a new occupant for the stately funeral home, located at at 2104 Myrtle St. Built in 1922, it features first- and second-floor offices, a third-floor apartment featuring a full kitchen, 36 off-street parking spaces and a host of other amenities.

But Scott has enlisted the help of a local property management firm to answer the following questions:

How do you successfully pitch and market a former funeral home for rent?

And what business, nonprofit organization or other entity might be the best fit for the building?

“This was my blood, sweat and tears for 42 years,” said Scott, funeral director and supervisor of Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation and Funeral Services Inc. Wintergreen at 2532 Norcross Road in Millcreek Township.

Scott operated the Scott Funeral Home from 1978 until 2019, when his business merged with the Burton and Quinn funeral operations.

The Myrtle Street location has been shuttered since 2020, and Scott would like to see the building repurposed via a long-term lease.

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An outright sale is not out of the question, Scott said.

“I would prefer to lease it because it’s a hard thing for me to up and sell it,” said Scott, 68, whose home is next door to the funeral home property. “It’s quite a nice building, though. And I think there’s a number of good fits for it.

“It would make a great high-end restaurant, and we’ve already had a restaurant owner interested,” Scott said. “A woman who trains nurses, based in Florida, has called. There’s all kinds of room for medical or dental office space. It could be a great law office. A nonprofit could section off space and use it. There are a lot of possibilities.”

Zoning rules

Garrett Shames is the chief operating officer and general counsel at Glowacki Management Co., 3645 West Lake Road. His company was hired by Scott to market the former funeral home for lease.

Shames said annual rent at the 6,882-square-foot building would be $61,938, or $9 per square foot.

Shames also mentioned that the property is designated for medium density residential use under city of Erie zoning laws, commonly known as an R-2 designation.

Allowable uses for the property — according to city zoning rules — include a bed and breakfast; a church; a day care center or neighborhood center; and residential units for up to four families.

Shames said that Scott’s merger agreement with the Burton and Quinn funeral homes includes a non-compete clause that prohibits the Myrtle Street property from being used as a funeral home for at least another year.

“If it was going to be another funeral home, it would already be off the market by now. Those funeral home buildings don’t come available very often,” Shames said.

Jake Welsh, the city of Erie’s chief zoning officer, said there is some flexibility related to the funeral home property when it comes to city zoning rules.

“A residential limited business (designation) would certainly have more commercial uses available, for example,” Welsh said. “Being in an R-2 allows townhouses, for example. But there's not a lot of commercial use there for something like a restaurant or offices without some further zoning approval that may require a variance.”

Shames said several potential tenants from various businesses have shown interest. He did not identify them.

“The building is very unique. As a funeral home it was set up for viewings and open spaces and there are several floors that could be utilized by one tenant or multiple tenants,” Shames said. “And there are lots of ways to subdivide and section parts of that building off.”

Asked if any potential tenants are put off by the building’s history as a funeral home, Shames said: “Not at all. I haven’t heard that from anyone. Companies, nonprofits and others are looking for big, interesting and collaborative spaces that can be repurposed. This property certainly fits that."

Scott added: "The preparation room's gone. The cremation equipment and the other equipment, we've already pulled that out. There's still a little furniture left, but all the caskets, merchandising stuff, it's all gone. Not much is left here that ties this to a funeral operation."

'Well-made buildings'

Across the country, former funeral homes are being revamped in unique ways.

ConnectingDirectors.com, a website which reports on the funeral home industry, explored that in the October 2020 article "Reincarnated: The Second Lives of Shuttered Funeral Homes." 

The piece highlighted several successful reuse projects at former funeral homes nationwide.

A former funeral home in Buffalo is now a popular coffee shop and another in Burlington, Vermont, was transformed into a pizzeria.

In Johnson City, Tennessee, a former funeral home now houses a mystery dinner theater, according to the article; a mental health and substance abuse agency moved into a former funeral home in Mount Airy, North Carolina; and a shuttered Cincinnati funeral building became a brewery and beer garden.

Scott said he's heard of such projects, and he believes they make sense.

"These are well-made buildings that still have a lot of value," Scott said. "And notice that when you see the newer funeral homes, a lot of them are one floor and don't have a lot of stairs. That's (largely) to make it easier for older people to get around."

Scott said he's confident that he and Shames will eventually find the right tenant.

"There's a lot of attachment for me to this building. It's provided very well for myself and my family, so there's no sense of urgency to hurry up and do something," Scott said. "Plus, I live right next door, and I plan on staying in this neighborhood. So I'm taking my time.

"But we will find the right fit," Scott said. "With the parking and the square footage here and the uniqueness of it, there's a lot that can be done."

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Owner James 'Jim' Scott wants to lease vacant Erie funeral home