The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is working on a deal to temporarily house Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) and a second firm in a building it would purchase from Krog Corp. at 847 Main Street while helping Krog and Hart Hotels bring an extended stay hotel to the neighborhood.
The 33,000 sq.ft. building at 847 Main Street at the corner of Virginia was completed in 2001 and has been vacant since SmartPill Corp. moved its remaining operations to Israel earlier this year. According to The Buffalo News, Krog was planning to replace the non-descript building with a seven-story mixed-use development anchored by an extended stay hotel.
Instead, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus wants to buy the building and add 10,000 sq.ft. of space to house AMRI and another firm until a permanent facility can be constructed at Goodrich and Ellicott streets on the site of a two-story parking ramp. That building, expected to be completed in 2016, would include parking for 1,600 vehicles topped with several floors of office space.
From The Buffalo News:
Krog had planned to tear down the SmartPill building to make way for a mixed-use building that would include an extended-stay hotel. So in exchange for Krog’s agreement to sell, the developer will get the exclusive right to build the hotel in the medical corridor, a feature that Krog Corp.’s owner believes will be in even higher demand once the University at Buffalo Medical School and Women & Children’s Hospital move to the campus.
“There’s a lot going on, and I think to have something on the campus is a benefit to us as well as the campus,” said Peter Krog Sr.
New York and local officials announced in December that the state will spend $50 million to build and outfit a facility on the Medical Campus for the Albany-based life sciences company and several partner businesses.
A site for the new hotel has not been selected but Krog is looking at both new construction or conversion of an existing building. From the News:
As for the hotel, Krog said he plans to partner with Hart Hotels on the project. They are looking to build an extended-stay hotel, with 120 to 150 rooms. It would join the DoubleTree Club by Hilton Hotel at 125 High St., near Buffalo General Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The partners haven’t yet decided whether they want to convert an existing building or build from scratch, but they are exploring all of their options with campus officials.
Trico anyone?