Calls started pouring into Denise Colon’s phone the night the Kastner Mansion on Clinton Avenue in Newark went up in flames last week to bring her news of the blaze.

“I got butterflies in my stomach,” said Colon, who owned the 32-room mansion before it eventually became abandoned. “I was nervous and sad and disappointed.”

Colon had dreams for the mansion when she bought it for a dollar in 2007 from the previous owner, Pride of Newark Elks Lodge. She envisioned not only turning the building into a community service center but also hoped to work with the city on a redevelopment plan for the surrounding area.

But those aspirations were dashed due to financial issues and the property was eventually taken over by the city. Property records show the mansion has been under city ownership since 2012.

“That building had so much potential to do several different things,” Colon said, who fell in love with the three-story Victorian mansion as she drove past it every morning during her commute to work.

Instead, squatters eventually found a way inside the mansion at 176 Clinton Ave. and used it as a way to escape the elements. A homeless woman who was inside the building at the time of the blaze Thursday night told NJ Advance Media that another squatter started the fire.

An old Elks Club sign rests on a split door in the mansion in this 2008 photo. SL

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the blaze. At least one roof inside the three-story home collapsed during the fire, so it’s still unclear if the building will have to be completely torn down.

“The vetting process for demolishing the building is still underway,” Newark Public Safety Department spokeswoman Catherine Adams said.

The property was once owned by a Frederick Frelinghuysen, but it was unclear which one. Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen was a two-time U.S. senator and secretary of state, while his son -- also named Frederick -- was the president of Howard Savings.

The mansion was built in 1892 for Franz J. Kastern, who was a wealthy owner of a brewery, according to Preservation New Jersey. It’s one of the few remaining beer baron mansions in Newark, which are most recognizable by their iconic turrets.

Another one, the historic Krueger-Scott Mansion on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is slated to have a more joyous fate than the Kastner mansion. The city hopes to break ground there next month on the Makerhoods project, which will provide offices, event space and co-working membership to businesses, nonprofits and individuals.

A room in the mansion, in this 2009 file photo.SL

About 10 years ago and a half-mile away from the Krueger-Scott property, Colon once had plans of her own to revitalize the more than century-old Kastner mansion.

She moved her tax business into the building and started hosting art galleries in the space. She planned to create a haven for pregnant women there and bring in some private businesses so that the property could start generating profit.

But the plans took an unexpected turn. Colon and her husband at the time originally bought the mansion under a nonprofit they registered together. She was hoping to get some type of tax abatement from the Cory Booker’s administration, but never received it.

Colon was also diagnosed with cancer.

The Elks left their trophies abandoned in a room in this 2009 file photo. SL

She spent about $250,000, repairing the roof and fixing issues that caused the structure to tilt. But repair costs plus paying about $9,000 annually in property taxes proved to be too much.

In hindsight, Colon said she wished she had more help from the city on the project. Development companies, she said, get tax abatements for projects. She didn’t understand why her community center couldn’t get the same.

“Unfortunately, this is the gentrification that goes on in the city,” she said, adding that she moved out of Newark about a month ago to South Jersey. “People like myself are the ones who suffer. We work hard.”

“That’s what hurts me so bad,” she continued. “They (the city) didn’t even have a plan themselves.”

Yvonne Garrett Patterson offered to lend her assistance to Colon when she purchased the mansion. Patterson, at the time, was president of the Clinton Hill Preservation Society and worked as a planning consultant.

“Denise worked diligently to cultivate restoring the Mansion,” Patterson said, noting that Colon’s plans for the property drew attention from federal, state and local leaders at the time. “She worked hundred of hours in the mansion and with public and private entities to develop a redevelopment plan.”

Colon said that she tried to get the property back after it came under city ownership, but was told by an official in the current, Mayor Ras Baraka administration that she couldn’t recover it because she lacked development funds.

But she’s still interested in the property and hopes that the city would speak to her about it again. She doesn’t want to let her dream of turning the property into a community center to, literally, go up in smoke.

Newark spokesman Frank Baraff said the city was not in talks with a developer about purchasing the property when it burned. He added that the new Economic and Housing Development director would be willing to talk with Colon as a prospective buyer. “We would be glad to talk to her about the program that the city uses for residences -- for homes -- in terms of down payment assistance and down payment grants,” the city spokesman said.

The 127-year-old Kastner mansion and its iconic turret after the Oct. 17, 2019 fire that badly damaged the structure.

Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @BeccaPanico.