The building block at 14-16 Broadway — built in 1896 and known as the Loomis, or Downing block — has been owned by Saranac Lake resident Ed Dukett since 1972, according to Franklin County property records. The new owner is Taimim Li from Long Island, whose aunt lived in Saranac Lake for a time to seek treatment for tuberculosis.

In the last two years, Li has also purchased 9 Broadway, the home of the Goody Goody’s toy store; the former Dew Drop Inn property at 27 Broadway; and a former church at 9 Oregon Plains Road in Bloomingdale, according to Essex and Franklin county property records.

Li plans to rehabilitate the aging blue building at 14-16 Broadway, according to Katie Stiles, broker/owner of the Adirondack Stiles Real Estate Company.

“(Li is) making great strides for our community, to help give us that lift that we need,” Stiles said.

The Loomis/Downing building block at 14-16 Broadway in Saranac Lake, seen here Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Stiles declined to disclose the sale price for the property on Sunday. Property records had not yet been updated to reflect the sale on Sunday.

Stiles worked with Li on this sale and will manage the property, as well as provide some input on its future use. She was also involved with the Dew Drop Inn sale.

“With Dew Drop, that’s a place that’s a local landmark,” Stiles said. “Mr. Li is somebody who ate there; he remembers that place. He has an interest in Saranac Lake. It’s meaningful to him.”

The new owner plans to potentially rework the Broadway block’s layout, according to Stiles. The building — a former inn — currently houses a cluster of storefronts on the first level, two apartments, two studio spaces and four hotel-style rooms without bathrooms.

The new owner and the former owner could not immediately be reached for comment by deadline Sunday.

The Loomis/Downing building block at 14-16 Broadway in Saranac Lake, seen here Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

The Adirondack Stiles Real Estate Company confirmed the sale of the property online on Friday afternoon and in an advertisement in Saturday’s Enterprise. The announcement was met with praise from residents, with some sharing stories of frequenting businesses that once operated out of 14-16 Broadway.

“Oh, how the community is thankful to reconstruct this blight,” wrote Saranac Laker Ken Youngblood.

The Loomis block building has for many years been considered an eyesore in Saranac Lake’s central business district. The building became part of a broader debate in village elections over the past few years as residents pressed candidates on their plans for addressing vacant storefronts downtown.

The building is often remembered for housing the Downing and Cane’s restaurant from 1937 to 1953, when it moved further down Broadway next to the U.S. Post Office. It’s housed a haberdashery, a tobacco shop, a bookstore and a number of other businesses. A fire in one of the storefronts damaged the building in February 2002. The property’s storefronts have been vacant for many years. The two apartments were still occupied until recently, according to Stiles.

The building was originally three stories when it was constructed in 1896 by Frederick W. and Hattie D. Loomis and was first used as the Loomis General Store, which at one time was the only supplier of textbooks for Saranac Lake schoolchildren. The third story was destroyed by a fire nearly 100 years ago.

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This story is the first in a series on the sale of the Loomis/Downing block.