CATTARAUGUS — If all goes well, the old, familiar building on the hill at 51 Washington St. will soon be revived to serve the essential needs of rural residents.

New owners Ashley Wier and Paul Rankin have a vision for the former Cattaraugus elementary school building that has been sitting vacant for 30 years to provide residents of the greater Cattaraugus area with the opportunity to receive much-needed services.

Their hope is to provide urgent care, a doctor’s office, dentist office and virtual support for medical services, along with a veterans affairs affiliation, senior assisted living, a senior center, daycare and an intergenerational group for the community.

Although it has seen a lot of vandalism, Wier said the three-story building is structurally sound and has plenty of space to house all the services they are planning. She would like to have a daycare center on the first floor which, besides medical services, is one of the community’s biggest needs.

Wier said the second floor is planned to have primary care offices, as well as an office for veterans outreach and Community Action. The third floor will be used for assisted living and have some hospice beds.

The main advantage of this facility over other facilities would include its location and the ability to provide services to rural families unable to travel to larger populated areas, Weir explained.

Wier is naming the building Big Red Center after the mascot of the former Cattaraugus High School, but will use a different logo. She wants to keep the name because it’s a historical tie to the old school.

The purchase of the building took place in late September. Wier said the cornerstone on the old theater dates 1936, but there is belief that the rest of the school was built in the 1920s. It stands strong to this day with poured concrete walls and strong bricks holding its structure. She said the abandoned building is still filled with desks and books left behind.

Born and raised in Cattaraugus, Wier lived in Rochester for a few years but moved back home to Cattaraugus with her 8-year-old daughter in May. That’s when she decided Cattaraugus should have their own medical center.

“When I moved back home and drove past the old school every day, I thought to myself that it was so sad to have it just sit there, and someone should do something with it before there is nothing left,” she said. “Like many other communities, ours is dying. I just want to be that positive change and give the community a reason to stay here. I purchased the building with hopes to give it back to the community.”

With the assistance of a national grant writer, Wier has already applied for some grants and has another grant company also working with her. She expects it to take two years to have a finished project.

With that in mind, she’s thinking about the funding and volunteers needed to accomplish the goal. She’s looking for community support and backing in the form of fundraisers and donations. They need volunteers to clear brush, mow the lawn and secure the building to make sure people aren’t going in and out of it.

Wier said Rankin is playing a major role in the development of the project with his background in environmental hazards including asbestos abatement, Thermal System Insulation (TSI) and other environmental risks. She said the building needs asbestos and TSI abatement, along with removal of dioxins caused by fire damage in June 2018.

“Anthony DeMiglio from AMD Environmental visited and walked through the building,” she said. “It’s an estimated $1 million for abatement and an estimated $3.5 million for total restoration.”

If the project gets approved and cleared, Wier and Rankin are hoping to have the abatement and development done by springtime. Wier said it all depends on how fast the process goes with the applications, grants and donations.

Wier has a background in both the nursing and business fields. She began working as a certified nursing assistant at 18. She continued her schooling to become a registered nurse, but a back injury influenced her to change her major to Business Administration.

With past experience as a human resources manager and director of operations for another company, she has worked the last eight years as an HR compliance officer in the nursing industry. She is currently self-employed and has an HR company she started in Rochester.

Jonathan Willard, who graduated from Cattaraugus Central School in 1989, attended the old elementary school and commented on Wier’s plans for the building.

“It’s a beautiful building with so many memories that has fallen on some hard times and been vandalized over the years,” he said. “Hopefully, she can bring it back to life and make it something we can all be proud of.”

Wier said the building, with all its services, will be an asset to the entire community. She said it’s truly been a blessing and amazing how the community has been pulling together to make this project become a reality.