Downtown Bellini's building sold to Lexington businessman

The building at 115 West Main Street that formerly housed Bellini's restaurant was sold earlier this week to Ben "Cash" Kaufmann, a Lexington real estate entrepreneur.

Kaufmann is paying $750,000 for the property, which was offered at a Master Commissioner's sale.

In early February, the city spent $2,900 to board up broken windows on the site that were a hazard to passersby. The building had fallen into disrepair, with a code enforcement case opened on it in May 2013.

NGS Realty owned Bellini's, which closed Jan. 1, and also owned the building. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2014. The bankruptcy case was terminated Dec. 23.

Although Kaufmann has purchased the building, which he plans to redevelop with his partner Rob Rosenstein, the new owners cannot get inside until April 10.

"We have no idea what it looks like inside, how much work it's going to take," Kaufmann said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. "We don't have any idea until we can get in there."

The building will probably be leased after it is redeveloped, Kaufmann said. But first he wants to do "something a little bit spectacular, something neat, something nice, a draw to downtown."

"I really want to restore it, make it look nice," he said.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Downtown Bellini's building sold to Lexington businessman."