Real Estate June 13, 2012 12:10 AM

Construction Watch: Lake Hotel

Construction Watch: Lake Hotel
WCPerspective
WCPerspective 24
Work to convert the long-vacant Lake Hotel at 201 West Huron Street into eight upscale residences is underway.  Kissling Interests purchased the property in 2009 and after several false proclamations that renovation work would be starting, it finally has.

Kissling has retained architecture, engineering and interior design firm Carmina Wood Morris to prepare the reuse plan.  The exterior of the building will be fully restored. 
lakehotelphoto2.JPGLakeHotelRender.jpg
Seven of the apartments will be two-bedroom, two bath units averaging around 1,000 sq.ft. The eighth unit is a one-bedroom, one bath handicapped adaptable unit on the first floor. Rents are expected to be in the $1500/month range and have open floor plans suitable for live/work arrangements.  

Peyton Barlow is general contractor.

Get Connected: Kissling, 716.853.2787 

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24 Comments Leave a comment
BPS_Rising
June 13, 2012 12:28 AM
BPS_Rising

Attractive building, nice location, look forward to seeing the end results!

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LouisTully
June 13, 2012 1:04 AM
LouisTully

This is pretty awesome. I'd love to hear what is up with the building at the 190 Niagara exit.

I'm curious, what is the cost-analysis of a project like this vs an alternative, such as new build or demo/new build?
I ask because looking at this building it looks like this is an incredibly solid building and wouldn't need anything massive aside from aesthetics. So what makes one building worth saving and likely profitable vs another building not worth saving because of too great of costs? Simply size?

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john.straubinger@gmail.com
June 13, 2012 4:03 AM
john.straubinger@gmail.com

The inside of the building was/is a total mess and it's been that way for a long while. I remember reading a story in the Buffalo News back in the 1990's about Masiello taking some developer through the building. There was a picture of the interior and it was totally trashed. I'm as eager to see pictures of the finished insides as I am to see the finished outsides.

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buffaloroamer
June 13, 2012 5:30 AM
buffaloroamer

And I ask, when is the owner occupied projects going to start....Condos or coops in the 150-250 range. The only ones so far are the 3 buildings on Washington. And from what I've heard, they are expensive; $450,000.00 and not worth it with the amenities offered. From the outside they don't look worth it...Plywood facade, cheap windows and garage doors. And 450k is not a do-able figure for the average Buffalonian wanting to invest/live downtown.
If I could just win that lottery......

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The Boss
June 13, 2012 6:16 AM
The Boss

Actually there is a building on Whitney Place with untits under $200, and Delaware near Byrant there has been a couple conversions in that range. Something to do with tax credits prohibits residential construction from being condos, I think the wait might be 8 years or something, then some of these lofts might be able to convert to condos.

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john.straubinger@gmail.com
June 13, 2012 9:36 AM
john.straubinger@gmail.com

If a building uses historic tax credits for its rehab, it can not go condo for 5 years.

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LouisTully
June 13, 2012 12:57 PM
LouisTully

I've been saying that for a while. Buffalo needs owner occupied options in the heart. I still think that's a huge component to the city's future, but why isn't the Whitney selling? Neighborhood? Parking?

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Up and coming
June 13, 2012 1:13 PM
Up and coming

I've been trying to tell people for a while, but Buffalo is reaching a critical mass on middle to upper end condo prices.

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replied to LouisTully
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brownteeth
June 13, 2012 1:45 PM
brownteeth

There is a problematic rooming house directly next to the Whitney Condos on the corner of Carolina/Whitney. Thankfully, my wonderful neighbors have taken the bull by the horns and brought the owner into housing court. Due to all the documented problems (drugs & violence) with the tenants and management (or lack there of), housing court issued an order to vacate as of today I believe. Hopefully that will alleviate many of the problems we've been having that may have turned potential renters/buyers away.

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replied to LouisTully
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timatbuffalo
June 14, 2012 9:42 AM
timatbuffalo

There are 2 unit townhouses on the market at 136-138 Richmond Ave starting at $139K and 2 bedroom condos at The Whitney starting at $88,900.

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replied to buffaloroamer
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14213
June 13, 2012 6:21 AM
14213

^No! It's been a while since we've seen these stupid ads^

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Jesse
June 13, 2012 7:29 AM
Jesse

Yeah, I was really missing them. I was really wondering where I could find the classic Bolero jacket!

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replied to 14213
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Travelrrr
June 13, 2012 7:41 AM
Travelrrr

Fantastic. Another one for the good (preservation/reuse) guys.

It would be great to see that awful church across the street either raised and made in to a cool pocket park, or repurposed into something cool.

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Rand503
June 13, 2012 2:25 PM
Rand503

Yes, and move the congregants to one of our empty beautiful churches. Give it to 'em for free!

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Rand503
June 13, 2012 2:25 PM
Rand503

Yes, and move the congregants to one of our empty beautiful churches. Give it to 'em for free!

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replied to Travelrrr
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BlueN'Gold716
June 13, 2012 8:16 AM
BlueN'Gold716

It would be nice if the City/utility could work with them to get rid of/minimize how ugly those gangly utility poles and wires in front of the building.

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flyguy
June 13, 2012 8:16 AM
flyguy

Any plans to get those utilities underground?

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KeepItSimple
June 13, 2012 9:52 AM
KeepItSimple

Neighbors are happy!

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Chris
June 13, 2012 1:14 PM
Chris

With so many APTs coming on to the market in the past few years it would be interesting to see the vacancy rate for higher-end rentals. It has to be rather low.

I love this organic growth. Bunches of small projects by multiple developers. No silver bullets. It is refreshing to see in a region that has relied on silver bullet/next big thing developments since the 1950's.

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BuffaloQPublic
June 13, 2012 10:30 PM
BuffaloQPublic

It's in good hands with Peyton Barlow Construction on-board.

They did a great job on the brick duplex on Johnson Park and Carolina St. It went from being the worst house to among the best.

Also, I think they did the Casket Apts. on Virginia St..
--------------------------------

Speaking of Virginia St. -- the oldest house in Buffalo is for sale (i.e., the one previously owned by the Allentown group.)

Also, I wonder what's happening with the interesting building at 467?? Virginia? I have no idea what the architectual design is -- I've made up a name -- Bavarian.

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LouisTully
June 13, 2012 11:43 PM
LouisTully

The Coit House is the one at Virginia/Elmwood. Would've made a great "Cool Real Estate Listing of the Week" if that was still done.

I hope in the revamped BRO they include a section for readers to report/discuss building and development sightings around town.

For instance, what is going up behind the bank on Elmwood between Hertel and Ch4?

Also, why is there scaffolding around BPD HQ? And why has that scaffolding been there for...? 2-3 years?

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brownteeth
June 14, 2012 8:45 AM
brownteeth

There's probably one loose brick on the parapit at BPD headquarters and instead of fixing it they put up scaffold to protect pedestrians. The scaffold rental cost probably will exceed the repair cost by now! Kind of like when you see a permanently placed road sign that says "rough road". You took the time and money to put in a sign when you could of just fixed the road.

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replied to LouisTully
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LouisTully
June 14, 2012 9:00 AM
LouisTully

To the BPD:
"I'm wondering why there is scaffolding around police headquarters, and why it has been there for well over a year with seemingly no change or work done. It is unbecoming of the department and, further, the City."

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replied to brownteeth
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BuffaloQPublic
June 15, 2012 2:45 AM
BuffaloQPublic

Re: ". . . it's unbecoming of the department and further, the City."

The comment just hit me with a flashback, an unpleasant memory of the brown paper that used to cover the BPD's ground floor windows, many years ago. I think it was during the time when I was attending Citizens Academy classes there. The reason cited was that it was done to provide a smoking area.

The appearance of Buffalo's public buildings, outside and inside ─ even the bathrooms ─ convey messages negatively or positively.

Additionally . . . just let me put on my arrow-proof vest before I submit this . . . some of the men and women in blue need to tighten up in the uniform department. Buffalo appears to have a very lax dress code in comparison to suburban police departments. Ill-fitting uniforms, sneakers, cowboy boots, hair chaos can be spotted quite often.

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