BY JOHN CROPLEY, GAZETTE BUSINESS EDITOR

The first tenants are settled into the historic courthouse building on lower Union Street, a half-decade after a local developer set about converting it into modern apartments dotted with early 19th century details.

Along with five years and a pile of money, Reza Mahoutchian needed all the engineering expertise he’d accumulated and all the trade skills his carpenters and masons had built over their careers to make the 108 Union St. project work.

Stripping away multiple past renovations while preserving or recreating a patina of age was painstaking or even tedious at times, but as the work is wrapping up, original tin ceilings, cut stone blocks, vintage bricks, fieldstone and hand-hewn timbers are prominently visible.

To read the complete article and see photos on The Daily Gazette site click here.