On the Market: 1502 Niagara Street

there's a great 4 story building across the street from this one, on niagara and potomac that is abandoned and begging for a rehab, but that stench is atrocious. sure would be nice to see both buildings converted into great living space.

It's a pretty ugly building but I've grown quite fond of it. There aren't a ton of 7 story buildings that far away from downtown so there's definitely potential there. If this building was in the 300 block it probably would have been re-habbed 10 years ago.

Then maybe Rascals will reopen....it use to be the best restaurant on the Westside

the main thing suppressing investment on niagara street is the thruway. the noise isn't just loud and incessant, it is a health risk.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010523072445.htm

downgrade the niagara section to a boulevard with signalized cross streets and watch investment bloom.

I've always thought this would be awesome loft apartments. Conveniently located with views of the river and Canada this would be a no brainer.
As to the comments about noise and pollution....Have you noticed the condos along the Gardner in Toronto?...Thousands of units along a stetch of highway that probably has 10x the traffic of the 190.

This is currently the most butt ugly building on the north I-190. It would be a dream if someone could at least beautify this animal. I would be ok if it stayed a warehouse, just needs a serious exterior makeover. [Not sure why all of Niagara St. north of Rich's to the 198 isn't developed/used for US/Canadian distribution zone]

WCP is smart to indicate the building is across from the waste treatment facility. You can't minimize the year-round stench that permeates the area--especially in the warm, windows-open months. Would not make a good residential property unless you wanted to live in a year-round a/c, filtered environment.

Savvy investors should be looking at Niagara Street, and this is a great opportunity. It would make a great preservation tax credit project to convert to lofts. A primary asset would be sweeping views of the river from Peace Bridge to International Railway Bridge. It has nearby expressway access (for those who are into that kind of thing), and is very close to Black Rock, Buff State, the Elmwood Village, Grant Street, etc. It's on the Riverwalk and at the end of the Scajaquada/Jesse Kregal Pathway, and not far from Broderick Park, which will soon see a 7-figure makeover. And proximity to Santasiero's, Community Beer Works, and some really good neighbors such as Buffalo-Niagara Riverkeeper.

About the charming 4-story building across the street, Buffalo Rising friend Bernice Radle posted a piece on her blog about that last week:
http://berniceradle.com/2013/01/16/1469-niagara-street-a-historic-gem-in-need-of-tlc/

A project with the building featured here would help attract developer interest to that smaller building across the street. As Bernice points out, it does indeed need TLC -- and soon. Unfortunately, if you look into the history of the non-realty "realty" that owns it, it appears to be in the hands of serial flippers. For example, they appear to have flipped several houses on Victoria Ave (133, 94, 31), off Fillmore, perhaps between family members. Someone with more experience in real estate and the city's anti-flipping policies might find this something worth looking into. Before it's too late :(

If they do end up converting this space for residential purposes, I feel sorry for the saps they dupe into buying a condo in that building. Maybe its just me, but the smell of churning treated and untreated sewerage just across the canal is not something I would want to deal with every time I wanted to open a window.

RumRunner beat me to it, the smell in this area during the summer can be absolutely awful, especially during the summer after a heavy rain storm. I'm not sure how the rowers can handle the stench without passing out.

From around Albany St. north to Black Rock, residential living this side of Niagara St. is about as dead as you can get. The only views are the sewage treatment plant and thruway below.

Yeah in a high rise you can see Fort Erie but at what cost to the lower floors. If we can convince Fort Erie to put the truck plaza over there and ruin their shoreline then go for it.

How old is the water treatment plant? Any chance that this will be updated in the near future to abate the smell?

I am all for saving buildings (CENTRAL TERMINAL, Colvin Church - Goodbye).... If we had a raging economy even buildings near waste treatment plants and highways would be renovated and occupied.... We havent had a raging economy in 50 years (thank you NYS and our crooked local idiots).... this building should be in the landfill

quick follow-up: everyone tends to assume that traffic is a permanent and immutable quantity, like annual precipitation. actually, it is quite elastic and tends to expand and contract based on road and parking capacity.

http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/magazine/002MayJune/12-13shrinkingroads.html

if we don't want a highway ruining our waterfront and suppressing property values for miles around, we should do something about it. it isn't as though we still have a population of 550,000 and two cars for every household.

So based on the comments so far, all we need to get moving on this are to upgrade the sewage treatment plant, downgrade the 190, and develop a "raging economy."

And here I was thinking this might be a heavy lift.

Thruway noise could be dramatically decreased by using quieter pavement; most of that road is concrete with grooves running crosswise, but some sections have the grooves along the lines of traffic. Drive it some time, and pay attention to how your tire noise drops when you go from crosswise to longitudinal grooving. Regular asphalt makes less noise, and there are mixtures containing ground-up tires which are very quiet.

ps: If you experience a raging economy for more than 4 hours, seek medical assistance. :)