Bosche Building Update: Still Standing, Awaits City Action

With another winter looming, neighbors are growing increasingly concerned about the fate of 918 Main Street.  The City-owned, roof-impaired Bosche Building may not survive another winter according they say.  A developer is ready and willing to redevelop the vacant property and state money has been allocated to shore-up the building, yet work has not begun.

The City must free up gap financing to conduct a Phase I environmental study, retain a structural consultant and start the selective demolition and stabilization work.  The $1.2 million in state funding, from a RestoreNY grant received earlier this year, is a reimbursement program.  The City must spend the money and then request payment from Albany.  According to insiders, obaining internal authorizations to start the contracting process has been agonizingly slow. 

A hole in the building's roof has been growing for several years.  Stabilization work is anticipated to take three to four months to complete.  It will involve securing the building's superstructure and bracing the outside walls.  If work starts by November, there's an outside chance a new roof could be on the building in December. 

The four-story, Richardsonian Romanesque masonry building is located in the Allentown Historic Preservation District south of Allen Street.  It is a former carriage factory built in the 1880's and designed by Cyrus K. Porter, a well-known Buffalo architect. 

Greenleaf & Co. was given designated developer status for the property earlier this year.  The developer's plan is to combine 918 Main Street with its adjacent property next door to create 18-19 upper floor apartments and first floor commercial space.  That's if there's still a building to restore.