Industrial Properties Trade Hands
Ever wonder how much a piece of Buffalo’s industrial milling heritage can be had for? Less than the price of a decent single family house apparently. An entity named Riverwright LLC has purchased a warehouse and mill located at 139-157 Buffalo River Place off of South Park Avenue for a paltry $120,000. ConAgra/Maple Leaf Milling Inc. was the seller.
Elsewhere, a large industrial property at 683 Northland Avenue was sold in a series of transactions in late March. The former CNB International plant, a manufacturer of industrial presses, machine tools, and related parts, was sold to Northland East LLC, Northland West LLC and Dutton LLC in four separate transactions. The buyer is believed to be Sweeney Steel. In total, the 220,000 sq.ft. facility and adjacent properties sold for $1.4 million. CNB International filed for bankruptcy in March 1999.
The property is approximately 1000 feet away from the former Curtis-Wright plant on Grider Street were Centerstone Development is undertaking a $22 million renovation project for future tenant Sodexo. It also near the former Kensington Heights housing project where Centerstone is a partner with EI Team on a proposed $60 million multi-faceted senior housing development.
Soccer complex! Soccer is huge, and there is not one complex in the city (Buffalo players can play indoors in Amherst, Tonawanda or at Sahlen's in Elma). Wouldn't this be a great re-use of one or more of these industrial sites?
Ah yes, we all tend to think; “what great old industrial buildings with huge square footage and plenty of surrounding land.”
However, many of us, me included, tend to forget that after a hundred-years of manufacturing; what could possibly be buried on that site which may come back and haunt us?
Furthermore, who is responsible? Past or present owners?
$120,000 may “sound” like a good deal until the liability-monster turns its ugly head.
That's why some of these go so cheap. Cleanup is a killer. THere are some incentives out there, but it is still a huge cost, usually borne by the new owner since in some cases the old owner no longer exists.
or how about just cleaning it up and offering it to a company willing to relocate to Buffalo at cost (taxes, mortgage, maintenance, etc) so we use our industrial buildings to bring jobs back to Buffalo...like the old Curtiss Airplane building did on Grider.
Hey Im all for soccer...but watching soccer isnt going to pay a mortagage, utility bill or meal for a Buffalo family!
any more info on the $60 mill proposal @ kensington heights mentioned above?