If you’ve driven by the old Remington Rand building on Sweeney Street recently you may have noticed a sight not seen in decades — light emanating from the long-abandoned factory’s huge upstairs windows.

“I have a lot of people say it’s great to see the lights back on,” said Steve Wachowski, supervisor for R&P; Oak Hill, general contractors now handling some necessary demolition at the site of the future Remington Lofts on the Canal.

While the first phase of construction there — including an initial 18 out of 81 planned work/live lofts — is still about six months from completion, Monday marked another significant milestone.

Justin Sammarco, CEO of First Asset Recovery Group, inked a deal to lease the building’s fourth-floor penthouse. He signed the papers during a tour of the former typewriter factory alongside Director of Development Tom Barrett of project developer Kissling Interests, LLC.

Donning a hard hat and safety glasses, with jackhammers sounding in areas still undergoing demolition and rehab, Sammarco said the possibilities for his company just kept getting more exciting as he explored the place.

Sometime before winter, Sammarco and his partner will move their growing collection agency into the space, where employees will work alongside other individual tenants and businesses getting a foothold, all while enjoying some of the best views around.

That’s been the plan all along anyway. Sammarco getting on board is a tangible step in the right direction.

A downstairs restaurant, hair salon and Yoga center on the ground floor are all committed, Barrett said.

Sammarco hopes those are the kind of perks that will help him expand and retain his growing workforce.

“This is even better than we originally anticipated — I’m never going to want to leave,” he said.

At 30, he is a fine example of young entrepreneurship in Western New York, and exactly the type of person the project hopes to attract.

He got his start producing commercials locally, a job that soon branched off into producing local motion pictures. One of his films, entitled “Of Dreams and Glory” was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. But when an opportunity presented itself to get into business, the North Buffalo native said he seized it.

“(I was) still trying to gain my footing in motion pictures. I was offered the opportunity to get into business with a friend of mine. I jumped at the opportunity. It’s the same sort of interest I found with movies, it’s just the business side of things,” he said. “Running a production is like running a company because essentially any production starts off as a business first. I’ve always thought a little bit outside of the box in terms of anything I did and this is no different. The way this building is turning out, it’s a sense of a little bit of a non-traditional way of running things ... it separates us from the everyday type of work environment that you can find anywhere,” he said.

Now, with his focus on developing First Asset Recovery Group, which he and his partner started last fall, the Remington project reflects a bit of the same dynamism he himself exemplifies.

First Asset, with about 14 employees, is temporarily based on Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda. The company is expanding fast, he said, and providing a unique environment for his current and future employees is part of the company’s overall business plan. The penthouse overlooking the Erie Canal is roughly 1,940 square feet in size and comes with a stunning view of the water and beyond.

“It keeps people employed, it keeps them energetic,” he said. “Giving back to the employee is the type of atmosphere we want to create and this building is directly in line with that.”

And while, to be clear, “Regular Joes” can also rent many of the building’s other planned units (with or without a burgeoning business of their own) the deal is the first sign that the Remington Lofts on the Canal is appealing to startups and entrepreneurs wanting to take advantage of it’s cutting-edge “work/live” concept.

Sammarco admitted the aesthetics involved in the project — which will retain and restore many inherent aspects of turn-of-the-century industry juxtaposed with ultra-modern elements like a frosted-glass wall housing a Yoga studio on the first floor — appeal to his visual sense.

Wachowski and his work crew have uncovered some interesting artifacts for re-use in the building, like a hoard of old crates stamped “Remington Rand,” part of which will be used for a one-of-a-kind wine rack in the ground floor restaurant “15-mile.”

Things like that will be paired with elements like preserving the front entrance loading-dock doors and some 100-year-old top-rolling doors that will all be re-installed to meet green construction standards for energy efficiency. Taken collectively, the elements of North Tonawanda’s industrial past will serve as the backdrop for its industrious future, say developers.

“I think that’s what makes this exciting,” Barrett said. “It’s not new construction — it will be a green building — a brand new building in an old historic shell.”

Blueprints he produced Monday included features such as on-site covered parking and even a looping service roadway in the rear courtyard circling around a monument to the Remington typewriter, complete with illuminated typewriter key.

Those reasons and others were what intrigued Sammarco about moving his firm into the $18 million project — years in the making — which utilizes wide open factory floors for a unique and adjustable floor plan.

The 81 planned units in the building have been designed to incorporate common areas and open kitchens attached to other rooms. The spaces are designed to be used for anything from a residence for upstart business owners who want to save money on dedicated office space, to more dedicated work space where employees report each day. Movable walls will be a feature of some of the units’ potential living quarters, meaning employees who live to work can also live at work.

Architect Jonathan Morris, a partner since 2005 with Remington’s hired firm Carmina, Wood, Morris, PC, explained the concept:

“It’s certainly something new to this area. It’s not like we’ve done a ton of this stuff. This is a pretty unique building — the wide-open floor plans and big expanses of glass provides so much more opportunity,” he said. “From my perspective, if I were starting out as an architect with my own firm I could set up an area as a studio space, ... and have a place to do the design right there where I live. If I started to grow and I got another unit in the building, next door, I could have a place to set up computer workstations where people could come in and develop the projects and my overhead would be really reasonable because I wouldn’t be leasing an apartment. To be able to roll out of bed and put a pot of coffee on and get to work ... it’s a great setting. For someone starting a business, it would offer a ton of opportunities.”

Sammarco is now the first such business tenant confirmed for the Remington Lofts, where the first 18 apartments, a downstairs restaurant, hair salon and Yoga center are all part of a phased opening expected to begin in just a matter of months, perhaps as early as mid-August.

Though there aren’t yet plans to actually house his employees in the penthouse, he said the possibility nevertheless exists.

Many who are tied to the conversion of the building also hope the project means bringing businesses and cash-carrying outsiders into this cottage community.

“The economic impact of this project holds for the area ... we really want to create a synergy with the local businesses that are already here,” Barrett said, adding ideas like discounted automotive maintenance for tenants could be worked out with the garage next door along with other incentives for residents who want to patronize the burgeoning downtown business district.

“It’s kind of like an incubator,” he said of the way tenants could interact inside the building. “You can just get creative with this kind of project.”

Conference space and the ever present opportunity to network with colleagues in the business world in a hotel-like environment complete with a live-in superintendent are a powerful draw to those getting a foothold in business of any kind.

Sammarco, who lived in New York City, pointed out that similar arrangements that have already taken hold in places like SOHO and Tribecca are more expensive. For him the Rand project offers the same feel at a lower price.

“Coming here we’re not only welcome but it’s a great environment and it keeps everyone in high spirits,” he said. “It’s affordable.”

Early estimates indicated each unit is going for roughly $1.25 per foot.

That makes renting one of them somewhere between $1,200 and $2,500 per month, depending on size. The building will offer several configurations.

In all, 27 apartments per floor are now expected to be done sometime in 2011.

Once the first 18 are available later this year, ongoing construction on the others will be insulated from those.

The planned restaurant (also part of phase one) occupies the former Buffalo-Niagara Electric Railway powerhouse just off to the right of the main lobby, where bricks on the interior walls are being taken down and refurbished piece of piece, it is easy to imagine dozens of tables and scores of customers chatting over a cocktail or lunch.

The world-class Yoga studio is planned to be visible to all those entering through the restored roll doors at the front of the building, through a frosted glass wall adorned with plants. Turn right and enter the “15-mile” Restaurant, to be run by Scott and Jenny Rossi, proprietors of downtown Buffalo’s City Grill.

To the left, the project calls for a hair salon, right by your mailbox before you hop into what was an old freight elevator, now upgraded to one resembling a hospital-sized elevator, to reach your apartment’s floor.

There you’ll be greeted by halls open to those massive old factory windows, where light is captured and allowed to also stream into your living space.

For now, it’s the sound of jackhammers that fills the building, proof of the economic impact already taking place but just a hint of what Barrett and his visionary first tenant have in mind.

“It is a testament to companies having the will and foresight to be a part of something like this,” Barrett said.

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.