Dear Answer Man: For years Rochester’s senior center — what eventually became 125 Live — occupied the old Armory building, currently known as The Castle. But when 125 Live left about a dozen years ago, that site was meant to be a public space, but has had multiple tenants ranging from a bookstore, coffee shops, art space and church.

The new company in there feels dormant, and I am unsure what the entire space is utilized for (besides the whiskey bar and restaurant); what is on the top floor? Could you refresh our memory what clauses were included (if any) about the dimension of public/community action/use in the space? I would like to see more multidimensional and public use of historic sites like this one. — Curious Lucy.

Dear Lucy,

So, when the old Armory was originally sold, there were stipulations to ensure some common public space focusing on arts and cultural uses within the building. Those carried over to the new owners when they purchased The Castle in March 2023.

However, Zack Wood, city of Rochester’s manager of facilities and properties, said those use restrictions expired in February 2024. The new owners are Castle and Community LLC, and for the $2.3 million the company paid, they can now utilize the space as they see fit (within zoning restrictions, of course).

As for what is there now, well, the focus seems to be dining and events.

The top floor is the ballroom, which The Castle advertises as a space for weddings, corporate events and more. The middle level, as you mentioned, is Pereira’s Wine & Whiskey. The lower level is the restaurant, Latitude 44.

Gone are the little annexes used for the arts. Gone is the bookstore. Even the church — a fill-in tenant — is gone.

Castle Community, the owners from 2018 to 2023, envisioned a space with areas for a restaurant — 44 North — the Arts Collaborative that was designed to offer community studio space, a gallery and art store; used book store Fair Trade Books; Castle Commons, a community space open to the public with soft seating, games, reading material and food; and on the third floor, much like now, event spaces for banquets, conferences and weddings.

All of that amounted to a very mixed bag of offerings, and the city sent Castle Community a notice of default in 2022. The space was not being used for the purposes outlined in the original agreement. COVID was a driver for part of this, but the businesses in The Castle just couldn’t make a go of it.

And that’s what brought us to where we are.

Look, the old Armory is a unique and beautiful building. But times change, and businesses must survive.

Right now, it seems the whole space is being used, though the third floor is not really a public venue in the sense that it is rented as a private event space.

Here’s hoping the International Confederation of Know-It-Alls holds its next meeting on the third floor, and Answer Man — the ultimate know-it-all — gets invited. I’d love to slip downstairs for a whiskey while I’m there.