That didn’t last long. A potential buyer of One Seneca Tower has backed out. Harvey Kaylie signed a contract to purchase the nearly empty property in Mid-May but backed out after not finding investors to help with a planned $100 million redevelopment. Word of the deal falling apart began circulating late last week.
The Buffalo News has the scoop:
Local broker Rick Reckkio confirmed Thursday that his client, New York businessman Harvey Kaylie, canceled his planned acquisition of the 38-story building. Reckkio said Kaylie remains interested in the project, but couldn’t do it on his own, and hadn’t found any partners.
“Seneca is too big of a project. It’s not working out for him,” Reckkio said. “It’s one of those situations where we put a lot of time into it and it fell through. I don’t know where we’re going to go on this.”
“He’s had a couple of conversations with people, but finding someone with $50 million, $60 million, is pretty tough,” Reckkio said. “There’s a lot of upfront costs.”
Kaylie’s plan called for “at least” 15 floors of office space, 100 or more residential units, shopping and restaurants on the first floor, and possibly a small hotel. An observation deck and restaurant on the top along with improvements to the complex’s plaza area fronting Seneca Street were also envisioned.