Paul Kolkmeyer has finalized the purchase of the Rand and Main Court Buildings downtown. Kolkmeyer paid $3.9 million for the Rand and $4.55 million for Main Court according to County Clerk Records.
Long-time downtown advocate Sweet sold his five-building property portfolio to Kolkmeyer and is retiring. In October, Kolkmeyer paid $2,565,922 for the Marine Trust Company building at Main and Seneca streets and the Roblin Building at 241 Main Street. The Stanton Building at 251 Main Street was purchased under a separate transaction for $646,569. They contain a combined 413,000 sq.ft. of space and are located in the Joseph Ellicott Local Historic District.
Kolkmeyer expects to put 25 condominiums on the Marine Trust building’s top five floors, open a banquet facility in the grand first floor banking hall, put a small boutique hotel into the third floor, and consolidate office tenants into the remaining levels. The Roblin Building will house the kitchen for the banquet facility, indoor parking for adjacent buildings’ tenants, and office space.
Residential and ground floor commercial space is planned for the Stanton Building at 251 Main Street . Built in 1873, it has the only five-story cast iron façade in Buffalo. Thirty-six apartments are planned. Kolkmeyer is working with Preservation Studios to obtain historic preservation tax credits for the restoration work and Wylier and Associates is designing the project.
The Rand and Main Court buildings are expected to receive some updating but remain office space. Any tenants displaced from the south Main Street properties will be offered space in the Rand and Main Court properties.
The Main Court Building has had a number of names over the years. It was built as the headquarters for Western Saving Bank which was acquired by Goldome in 1988 and renamed Goldome Court. Delaware North purchased the property for $9 million in 1990 during the collapse of Goldome and moved its headquarters there from the Butler Mansion and renamed it One Delaware North Place. Four years later Delaware North sold the property to Vandor Corp. from Canada. Vandor lost the building to foreclosure after Delaware North relocated to Key Center in 1999. David Sweet acquired the building at a foreclosure auction in July 2001 for $3 million.