Good Neighbors

Local entrepreneur invests in neighborhood's future.

In one form or another, 332-336 Arnett Blvd. has long been home to commerce.Part of the row building housed The Creator's Hands gift store and gallery for a number of years. When the business showcasing works by American artists and craftspeople moved out in 2005, the storefront windows looked out on some far less savory capitalism, with occasional drug dealing out front.

Today the space in the 83-year-old building, just west of the Arnett branch of the Rochester Public Library, is hosting a family of businesses and business services aimed at a target audience of a few square blocks of southwest Rochester.

Inside the operation called "The Arnett," a small coffee shop sits alongside a copy shop. Diners at the cajun/creole restaurant The French Quarter Cafe eat steps away from a credit counseling service and a business consulting operation.

The idea is to provide both a series of niche businesses lacking in the city's 19th Ward, such as higher-end retail, and the needed training and services to help other businesses launch in the area.

The neighborhood "has a lot of good housing value," said David Dey, who created The Arnett and runs a pair of operations there with his wife, LaDonna. "But on the other hand, it has a series of challenges. It's an ideal area to launch this model."

Click here to read the entire Democrat & Chronicle article by Matthew Daneman.