Real Estate May 28, 2010 9:30 AM

On The Market: 481-489 Delaware Avenue

WCPerspective 28

Four historic row houses on Delaware Avenue, including the site of the Stillwater restaurant, are for sale. The properties are listed with McGuire Development Company with an unlisted asking price. The Stillwater business is not for sale.

Stillwater Holdings, LLC purchased five adjacent properties at 481-491 Delaware in August 2006 for $848,600. The holding company sold 491 Delaware Avenue in 2008 for $432,000.

481-3 Delaware Avenue has been a restaurant site since the 1950s. Lord Chumley's operated in the space for many years before Stillwater settled in. The balance of the property contains eight apartments and retail space. Off-street parking is available in the rear along Virginia Place.

The four available row houses are among a string of 10 similar structures built between 1889-1895 located in a section of Delaware Avenue called The Midway, a reference to the site being at the halfway point between Niagara Square and Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Get Connected: Joe Leber, McGuire Development, 716.829.1552

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Comments

28 Comments Leave a comment

NBuffguy

May 28, 2010 8:49 AM

I like that top picture of the Avenue. Very sharp, IMO.

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 9:11 AM

You can see into some of the windows of the vacant spaces. Looking pretty rough in some.

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PoorPeopleSuck

May 28, 2010 9:24 AM

Might make a lot more sense for a developer to tear these structures down and rebuild on the site.

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 10:09 AM

I'd have to say that's pretty silly. Tear down and rebuild what? Another Walgreens? Maybe we can throw a Starbucks and a Christmas Tree store there, too.

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PoorPeopleSuck

May 28, 2010 10:14 AM

I was thinking a Trader Joe's or an IKEA.

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grad94

May 28, 2010 4:49 PM

it's amazing how eager some people are to hit the 'delete' button when it comes to vacant buildings. as it happens, the midway is in the delaware avenue preservation district. i think some of them were designed by e.b. green.

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jattea

May 28, 2010 9:55 AM

Not to nitpick, but this location is nowhere near the halfway point between Niagara Square and Forest Lawn. I'm pretty sure "Midway" referred to roughly the halfway point between Niagara Square and the northern edge of the city, which was North Street.

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 10:05 AM

North is a block and a half from these houses. That's further off than what you're saying. .8 miles to Niagara square, .3 to North, 1.7 to Forest Lawn.

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WCPerspective

May 28, 2010 10:13 AM

You're right- it can't be Forest Lawn (midway would be somewhere near Bryant Street?)- but it doesn't seem midway between Niagara Square and North Street either. Anyone???

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Travelrrr

May 28, 2010 11:01 AM

So, how difficult would it be for new developments to be row-house styled? I know that the craftsmanship is not what it used to be, but it seems as though Buffalo could start to replicate this style of living, with more of a modern twist.

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Fortunate4now

May 28, 2010 2:26 PM

I agree. It would be nice to see a “modern” row house neighborhood downtown.
Even something like this wouldn’t be that bad: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v80/Localvandal/houstoncityhouses.jpg

As for these Delaware ave row houses they are in a great location and (I’m sure) carry a price tag to reflect that.

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JohnQBuffalo

May 28, 2010 4:09 PM

Considering the true level of POO that is getting built by local developers and coming out of most architecture schools I have asked that question many times.

Why cant these row houses be built today?

There are many styles from modern, to contemporary to the abundance of period designs locally, in the northeast and in europe.

There are even row houses and town houses that have incorported first floor garages with stairs/porches up to the 2nd floor entrance.

I would even say that apartment buildings could have rowhouse like facades to break up their uniform blank walls and make them more street and pedestrian friendly.

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Chris

May 28, 2010 12:43 PM

These buildings have character, something that can never be replicated again in our age. We have torn down enough of our history. Buffalo has tons of space for development. The days of tearing down buildings for the sake of progress is over (hopefully).

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Travelrrr

May 28, 2010 2:40 PM

Not looking to replicate exactly, but I think the thought of building with more density and in the style of a row-house. Saw some very streamlines (maybe a bit too plain) row houses in NYC recently, built in a highly restricted preservation district, which would be perfect.

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 3:29 PM

Granted they were built some time ago and their is a urban living resurgence, but look at why these never became popular in Buffalo. "Most homeowners wealthy enough to afford houses of this class preferred to build detached dwellings, and the popularity of terrace housing common to seaboard cities did not survive here"

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jwright

May 28, 2010 1:25 PM

Tear them down? You've got to be writing that just to agitate, Mark Twain used to walk past these things! Does anyone know why nothing has ever gone into Manny's old spot?

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grad94

May 28, 2010 4:52 PM

um, not exactly. twain lived in buffalo around 1870 and these weren't built until around 1890.

but it is stupid to consider demolishing one of buffalo's best addresses.

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jwright

May 28, 2010 5:52 PM

Damn, you're right. Never mind, tear them down then.

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LesterCzepnakski

May 28, 2010 1:32 PM

midway was a popular WWI battle I think it was named after that time in history because thx builders son died there or something like that it it's not about a mid-way area

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 2:05 PM

Not even close. Midway was a WWII battle in the Pacific, named so because of the island Midway Atoll. The rowhouses were built long before this. The source of the name for this stretch of buildings is exactly as the article states: mid-way point between Niagara Square and Forest Lawn Cemetery. I realize it is not exactly the mid-point, but then again there were never any buffalo in Buffalo. Mike's Subs is owned by a guy named Bob. And my friend Tiny isn't exactly tiny.
Source: "Buffalo Architecture: A Guide" page 134-5

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suburban_hillbilly

May 28, 2010 2:20 PM

WRONG! They were named after James Jacob Midway. He was the uncle of the original owner. These building were built over a period of 10 yrs and the original owner, Bernard Pendergast, kept running out of funds to finance the construction of the adjacent structures and his Uncle James Midway loaned him the money. When they were complete Pendergast named them City Walk but his family changed the name to Midway after Pendergast died in 1917.

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 2:32 PM

Source? My first three sentences were correct anyway.

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grad94

May 28, 2010 6:30 PM

i'd like to know the source, too. who was the 'original owner' and did james midway live in buffalo?

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suburban_hillbilly

June 1, 2010 8:49 AM

Souce? My personal encyclopeida of BS. I made it up. Sorry.

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LesterCzepnakski

May 28, 2010 3:49 PM

so I was right thank you. buffalo has a long history of celebrating battles or people that died on battles like pengrasts son. soldiers circle place, there's also a lots of canons around to indicate our war heritage

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LouisTully

May 28, 2010 5:52 PM

No dude. These were built 50 years before the Battle of Midway. As far as naming things/places as a memorial, it's a practice used by pretty much everyone, not just a Buffalo thing.

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