Meet Ed Hogle. He's the owner of Atlas Steel and EB Iron Art. Hogle either owns, leases, or has an option to buy over 30 acres on and around Tonawanda Street.
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In the past, Hogle had proposed a home for sex offenders on Tonawanda, that was subsequently shot down by the City. "Look," Hogle says, "I have ten kids, and frankly, the thought of child molesters sickens me, but the more I looked into it, and found out they were living all over the city, the more it made sense that parolees be kept in one supervised area, with ankle bracelets. The way it stands now, when one of these guys gets out, if their mother lives on Oakland Place, they can go live in her basement. They're all over the city as it is - why not have them in one place?"
Still, Hogle wasn't too upset when it didn't go through. He says he was approached with a new idea for using the rambling property that has since been made into the home of The Yard. "I'm four minutes from Buffalo State College," Hogle says. A point that was driven home when the "pervert village" as it came to be known, was trounced. Suddenly, the idea of building green housing for Buffalo State students, with individual rooms and common areas looked like a win-win for Hogle, the college, the neighborhood, and the students, the overflow of which were forced to live in the Adam's Mark Hotel.
"I came in with the idea of creating student housing, and I sat down with [past] Buffalo State President Muriel Howard, [Vice President for Finance and Management at Buffalo State] Stanley Kardonsky and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt," Hogle explains. "They were all for it. Howard pledged her support."
Hogle spent the next four months with architects creating Rock Harbor Commons plans. He traveled to places with similar housing, he researched green construction, and poured money into consultation, plans and renderings. At the end of those four months, Howard said she was no longer interested. "I wish I'd gotten something in writing from her. I went to Hoyt and reminded him that he'd sat in on the meeting, and he said he couldn't help me."
In what Hogle now feels was a bait and switch, his plans for projects 1 and 2 were squashed. "It doesn't make sense. A market study says Buff State needs 750 beds, and they're building 500, which still leaves them short. Add to that the fact that those 500 beds are costing them $35 million to build, and my project, that would create 350 beds would have cost $6 million. How do you like that math?" Hogle asks.
"I must just be the wrong guy," Hogle states. "But screw it, I'll build the rooms out myself with four or five other people if it takes me two years. I'm tired of talking. It's all BS, and BS is what we do here. Bankers exist to give each other bonuses, and the rest of us are on our own. You know who ultimately pays? The parents. Education is not cheap, and I have a plan for affordable housing."
Still looking for ways to capitalize on his only asset other than steel, which has taken a big hit in the current economy, Hogle is looking at his property development options again, and this time they involve the property on the other side of the street at 68 Tonawanda. His latest idea is to build a rooming house in the railroad station he owns on the west side of Tonawanda Street. "I'm stuck with enormous tax bills. I pay $100 thousand a year in taxes, water, sewer and garbage, and there's no one living there. I have so much property, and I want to do something with it."
Hogle says a lot of people in Black Rock don't have a lot of money, and so the rooming house makes sense. "I have 30 guys working for me, and some of them are already living in rooming houses. Why not build them space for $100 a week? I sat in a room with 8 guys from the zoning board, and it's specifically written in that there would be no sex offenders allowed in the rooms."
Then Assemblyman Sam Hoyt sent out a letter this past Monday, asking Mayor Brown to stop the Tonawanda Street plans, and he brought up the sex offender village again. "I have never, ever, ever mentioned the "S" word again," Hogle says. "That's all bull____. [Councilman] Golombek has no problem with the plan, and the wording is 'no sex offenders.' Furthermore, it's not up to the mayor to change or veto zoning laws."
Hogle says he's not angry, but his rapid-fire speech suggests frustration. Determined to develop his plan, Hogle says he'll go forward with both the larger housing project on the east side of Tonawanda Street, as well as the rooming house. Not looking for cooperation anymore, Hogle would at least like to operate with no opposition. "This whole thing just blows me away," he concludes.
It's comical how progress is slow moving here even when you want to use your own money. Everything takes so long to get going here (and NYS in general) that I can see why developers do not want to build here. I'm not sure how I feel about rooming houses as I have had mixed experiences with the ones near me but if the guy is doing things by the book with his own finances let him do it already.