Azola

The two buildings on the property weren't connected. The yard was full of construction debris. The attic was full of farm implements. The last rehab was done in 1940.If they didn't have the pictures to prove it, no one would believe the gracious home Lone and Marty Azola have created from a dilapidated, uninhabitable former dairy barn.The alteration captured a Grand Award -- one of two in the contest -- in the adaptive reuse category of the Renaissance '97 contest, sponsored by Remodeling magazine and the National Association of Home Builders Remodelors Council.

If a sudden 40-degree rise in temperature hasn't told you spring is here, maybe this will: Racing returns Wednesday to, Pimlico.Ah, breathe in the spring air the scent of tangy manure, the fresh paint. Yes, Marty Azola has been at it again (we're referring only to the paint) .He is Pimlico and Laurel Park's vice president of facilities, perhaps the aging tracks' most unenviable position. But in nearly three years, Azola has spent $10 million on new work -- not maintenance - and anyone who regularly attends the races should appreciate it.The simulcast theater, Longshots bar and remodeled food Court altered the character of Laurel's grandstand.

Martin P. Azola, president of Azola Companies, was inducted last week as president of the Home Builders Association of Maryland at the organization's 79th annual banquet, held at Pimlico Race Course.Azola, who succeeds Howard Saslow of Encore Homes Inc., specializes in adaptive reuse of older and historic buildings and has worked in development, design, construction and property management for 25 years in the Baltimore metropolitan area.Also inducted were: Jay Weiss of Ashley Custom Homes, president-elect; Dwight Hikel of Shelter Systems Unlimited, first vice president; Bob Leatherwood of Roll-Off Express, vice president/associate; Frank Hertsch of Morris & Ritchie Associates Inc., secretary; and Glen Jackson of Sentinel Title Corp.

The rescue plan for historic Aigburth Vale has come apart, once again leaving the fate of the deteriorating Towson mansion unsettled.Builder Martin P. Azola, who was picked by Baltimore County to restore and renovate the 1868 mansion, says he can't proceed without financial help from the county. But county officials, who are selling the ramshackle property for $500, say they never planned to contribute money to the project."Negotiations have ceased," Shirley Murphy, chief of the county Bureau of Land Acquisition, said Friday.

After months of weighing proposals for deteriorating Aigburth Vale in Towson, a committee of county and community representatives last week agreed that the historic mansion should be renovated into offices.If County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger and the County Council approve, local builder Martin P. Azola will be awarded the three-acre property with the once-grand villa. His plan beat a proposal by Ronald and Anne Pomykala to turn the 1868 estate into a country inn.The Pomykalas, owners of Gramercy Mansion bed and breakfast in Stevenson, wanted to open a 17-room inn with a restaurant at the site on Aigburth Road near Towson High School.

As historic Aigburth Vale in Towson continues to decay, negotiations for the 1868 mansion's sale and restoration also are falling apart."This is D-Day week," builder Martin P. Azola said, referring to a deadline tomorrow set by Baltimore County, which is selling the mansion for $500.Azola, who has restored historic properties such as the Rockland stone houses at Falls and Old Court roads, has been working with the county since April to buy the French-style mansion -- the once-grand home of John Owens, a renowned comedic actor in the 19th century.

Historic Aigburth Vale in Towson may be rescued yet.A failed proposal by builder Martin P. Azola to redevelop the deteriorating, county-owned villa could be resurrected if the burgeoning Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University decides to relocate there."They would be the perfect tenant," Azola said. "The trick is to get them to fit."But the economic research program, which has grown from 23 employees to more than 70 since becoming associated with the university last year, also is eyeing other properties.

Baltimore developer and remodeler Martin P. Azola has joined Ilex Construction and Development Inc. as a vice president.Mr. Azola, 44, a nationally recognized expert in adapting historic buildings for commercial and residential uses, will be responsible for expanding Ilex's activities in those areas.He joined Ilex less than six months after he was forced to file for NTC protection from creditors under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. At the time, he said that he was adversely affected not only by the recession but also by changing federal tax laws that discourage private investment in historic restoration and adaptive reuse.

Martin P. Azola, a Baltimore developer who is one of the heroes of the local preservation movement and a nationally known expert on renovation of historic buildings, has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.In documents filed in Bankruptcy Court earlier this month, Mr. Azola and his wife, Lone, listed assets of less than $300,000 and liabilities of about $10 million. The liabilities apparently are the result of personal guarantees Mr. Azola signed on real estate loans that are now in default.

A pile of stones and a heap of old logs are usually not a home buyer's dream. But to Anne and Hugh Coyle, these rough materials, stacked on a treed lot off Falls Road, meant the solution to their home buying dilemma. He wanted something new, she wanted something old -- together they chose to restore one of the great old houses of Baltimore County.One year after first viewing what Anne Coyle calls the "rubble," they moved into their new home, which had stood for centuries near Padonia Road and Interstate 83 in what's now Timonium.

Four Marylanders who helped transform Baltimore's historic Bromo Seltzer Tower into artists' studios are exploring plans to restore another city property, the Inn at Government House. The Baltimore Development Corp. has selected Government House LLC, a team that includes father-and-son developers Martin and Tony Azola of Azola & Associates and philanthropists Sylvia and Eddie Brown, to receive a negotiating privilege that will give them time to come up with plans for redeveloping the three-building complex at 1125 to 1129 N. Calvert St. The selection comes eight months after the city sought proposals from developers interested in buying or leasing the 21-room inn, considered the city's official guesthouse.

Some preservationists fight bulldozers and wrecking balls. Marty and Tony Azola had to outwit a black vulture. The female vulture laid eggs in the attic of Ruscombe, a vacant 1860s-era mansion near Cylburn Arboretum that the Azolas proposed to restore for commercial tenants. Because the black vulture is a migratory species protected by law, the father-and-son development team had to wait until her eggs hatched and she and her offspring flew away before they could begin work. She came back the next year and laid eggs again, delaying the project even more.

A restoration contractor and a community group have come up with compatible projects that tie together the past and the present at Towson's gateway landmark, an imposing stone structure that was the Baltimore County jail for more than 150 years. The three-story building filled with iron-barred cells and thick concrete walls sits on 4 acres at Towsontown Boulevard and Bosley Avenue. Renovations began last week to convert the building that dates to 1854 into offices, a communal conference room and a restaurant with a spacious patio that will overlook another long-sought project - a community pool.

At the last minute, her friend couldn't come along. But Sarah Koteen went ahead with her plans - even if the idea of heading off by herself for several weeks to volunteer at a camp for underprivileged children from New York was a little bit intimidating. That experience last summer is just one item on a resume that includes hundreds of hours of volunteer work, participation on her school's track, soccer and softball teams, and a 3.63 grade-point average. Now Koteen, a 16-year-old junior at Owings Mills High School, has been named Baltimore County's Young Woman of the Year.

Though best-known for its Orioles and Ravens, Baltimore is apparently a pretty good place to raise baby vultures, to the chagrin of a renovation team at a local mansion. For the second year in a row, a black vulture, one of a migratory species protected by law, has laid her eggs inside the Ruscombe Mansion, a vacant, 1860s-era dwelling targeted for renovation near the Coldspring New Town community. So final repairs to the place - at least the part occupied by the bird - will have to wait for nature to take its course.

Baltimore's historic Railway Express building, once targeted for conversion primarily to offices for an advertising firm, is now expected to become the newest residential development in Baltimore's Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Two years after Baltimore's housing department selected a local group to buy and recycle the former parcel post office at 1501 St. Paul St., developers have modified their renovation strategy to include less commercial space and more residences.

It took a teetering second-floor bathtub suspended on rotting wood to teach first-time homeowner Michael Cooper a thing or two about fixing leaks and the art of caulking -- things that seemed to him more annoying than dangerous. The first year at the Fells Point bartender's new home was quiet. By the second year, he was catching drips in a pot in a first-floor hallway. Then, by accident, Cooper found the culprit -- a gap in the bathtub's caulk concealed by a shampoo bottle. So Cooper just caulked and recaulked -- for three years -- trying to fix the pesky leak.

The Order of Odd Fellows lodge at Saratoga and Cathedral streets was brimming with antiques when her family bought the building. The fraternal organization had been there since the late 1800s, and Lone Azola had been taking inventory of each player piano, pool table and uniform when she got to the steamer trunk on an upper floor. There it was, inside: a human skeleton. And just as in the movies, the fuse blew and the room went dark. It was 10 more minutes before the construction foreman restored the lights.

The city yesterday selected a proposal to convert the former Hendler Creamery ice cream factory and two other properties in the Jonestown section of East Baltimore into a neighborhood shopping center and offices. The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development arm, picked the proposal submitted by Jonestown Powerhouse LLC, a joint venture among Azola & Associates Inc., headed by Martin Azola; Banks Contracting Co. Inc., headed by Kenneth Banks; and investors Sylvia and Eddie Brown of Brown Capital Management.

The former Mangels Herold Co. King Syrup plant on Key Highway, redone into a city business incubator among other uses, is slated for another makeover. The city, which owns the four-building South Harbor Business Center at 1414 Key Highway, said yesterday that it had selected a developer to buy and "polish not demolish" the complex. The development team, SHBC Partnership, plans to restore two of the four buildings, more than 100 years old, and clean up the other two. "We're going to finish what they started," said Martin P. Azola, one of the developers, of the Baltimore Development Corp.