02/28/2014
Ex-Braddock Sport Shop Building Gets Some TLC
Posted: February 28, 2014
By SALLY VOTH
The Wi******er Star
The building at the corner of Braddock and Cork streets, which for years housed Braddock Sport Shop, is being renovated. Wi******er construction/property management firm Pifer Companies is doing the work. (Photo by Ginger Perry/The Wi******er Star)
WI******ER — An 80-year-old building that was the longtime home of a city sports store is getting a renovation.
The first floor of the two-story brick building at 202 S. Braddock St. was occupied by Braddock Sport Shop Inc. for more than half a century.
Wi******er construction/property management firm Pifer Companies is replacing a second-story wraparound balcony and renovating the ground floor, said Richie Pifer Jr., vice president of operations.
“[The balcony] will look very similar to what was there before,” he said Thursday.
However, structural steel will be encased by the wooden framework.
“The way that the porch was cantilevered out from the wall was not up to current code,” Pifer said.
He said the building dates to 1930.
There are two apartments upstairs, and the ground floor will be leased as commercial space, but the owners don’t yet know who will be leasing it, Pifer said.
“That space is being freshened up and brought up to code as well,” he said. “It’s very historic — great building, great bones.”
Terry Bucher said his family had the sports store from 1959 until last year.
“After 53 years of having nothing done to it, it’s in foul shape,” he said. “There was something unique about that [balcony]. It was the only building in the state of Virginia — or one of two — that had that free-standing balcony.”
On Thursday, floor joists that had supported the balcony were visible.
“It will be a lot safer,” Bucher said. “It used to have 50, 60, 100 people on it for Apple Blossom, too. That was a fun parade watching place.”
Work on the building started last summer, and was paused for a while for structural drawing work, Pifer said. He said the structural steel will be put in next week, and that the project will be finished in time for this year’s Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, set for April 25 to May 4.
Bucher’s father started the sports store.
“I basically specialized in baseball, my true love,” he said. “We did all the baseball around here — uniforms and equipment and so forth — for Little League.”
Being retired, Bucher has time to drive by and see what’s going on.
“I kind of watch it every day,” he said.
— Contact Sally Voth at [email protected]