What's In Store For This Beauty On Porter?
Every time I ride down Porter Avenue, I am constantly aware of a few different elements. The stretch that I'm talking about is between Kleinhans Music Hall and LaSalle Park. Over the last few years we have witnessed some very positive developments including the opening of Morning Glory Cafe, the re-watering of the Mirror Pool, the rehab of the 'Circle Mansion'... and who could forget this miraculous 'save' that saw an out-of-town real estate investor completely gut and restore a house that no one in Buffalo would touch?
With all of the development efforts, I am amazed that certain 'investors' still get away with what we see here (photo- corner of Porter and Plymouth). This mansion has been falling apart for years. Yesterday I pulled over to take a photo of the deplorable condition of the structure. When I was walking away from the building I was flagged down by a local investor who told me that he had tried to purchase the building a year or so prior, and had he been successful would have restored the house by this time. It was tough to hear that he had planned to dump over $100,000 into the rehab. Unfortunately, he lost the bid ($20,000) to another buyer (approx. $40,000) who has, over the last year, not done a single visible improvement.
I spoke to Harvey Garrett, Director of the West Side Community Collaborative, who told me that the house is in now in housing court. And a neighbor chimed in that the owner is a professor who lives near Albany. Apparently, his goal is to eventually live in it (if it doesn't fall down first), but he's trying to manage it remotely, which doesn't seem to be working very well. Word on the street is that the owner claims that he's working with an engineer to save the columns and the porch.
In the meantime, 2x4s can be seen propping up the 428 Porter porch, and the neighborhood holds its breath wondering what will eventually become of this property.
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Comment Options
needles
I can only wish that houses like this are still waiting to be saved when I am in position to invest. Or, maybe for the sake of the houses, I hope they're not!
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NewBuffalo
the local guy should have offered more money. he would have gotten it but like most people here they low ball everything because they don't know how much real estate is everywhere else.
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blackrocklifer
This house was deteriorating as fas back as 1978 when I lived nearby. I work in this area and noticed the 2x10's holding up the porch are dangerously bowed. Though collapse is unlikely, it is a possibiity and would make restoration more difficult and expensive.
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MiesvanderDoh
i expressed interest in it to my realtor a year and a half ago, she told me they were stripping all the original woodwork out of it
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BenDunn
A $100,000 isn't going to do it anyway.
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STEEL
Sickening.
Maybe with the Livery just around the corner we can create a theme park of disgrace. Each "ride" (read neglected property) would be named after its owner. Of course there are no thrills in tis park just horror.
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al-alo
it is possible the second floor roof is cantilevered out from the main structure. which would make this less likely to collapse, but if it did, there could be much greater structural damage beyond the point or reasonable repair.
its more likely the second floor porch deck is cantilevered, which would make any failure of the structure above even more calamitous and possibly terminal to the structure.
even if this porch is not tied into the main structure, any collapse is a detrimental to a structure. it seems like to like a big chance to take for the cost a few post jacks or a few additional timbers.
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buffaloweiner
My bet is that the supposed teacher in Albany is actually a downstater....
downstaters are the reason for every problem in the entire state.
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Pineapplesun
They can afford to set up Direct TV, (not just one dish, but TWO) but they can't get some posts to hold up the porch? Also, why would they bother with a security system? Embarassing!
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Jolopy
even in the state its in you have to admit its an amazing looking building. I would love to be able to see this brought back to the way it did once.
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magnum
Well, atleast the city has not looked the other way and hopefully housing court will get this resolved.
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phrank
I don't mean to be picky about these things, but the area of Porter mentioned IS the entire length of Porter. It begins at Kleinhans Music Hall and ends at LaSalle Park. So really it is the ENTIRE street that needs help.
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comptart_lws
phrank: you are clueless. this is one bad house on an other-wise stunning street, with home being cared for by (mostly) owner-occupants. I known this for fact because I have lived down the street from this mansion for 17 years and have watched the street do nothing but improve. People like you just piss me off.
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al-alo
heeeey . . . i hope that old string of Christmas lights isnt load bearing . . .
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WhatRUsmoking
Let's see. You took a picture of a house...and then report mostly hearsay and "word on the street" from the neighbors. That's some good "reporting" there.
If the mansion has been "falling apart for years" and "in deplorable condition," just maybe the owner is talking with an engineer and coming up with plans for renovation. You can't just run down to Home Depot and buy a new porch like that (well actually a lot of people around here try that, and it shows). But of course instead of finding any facts, its easier to report hearsay and jump to our own negative conclusions as opposed to actually trying to contact this guy and get some information. I'm not excusing the condition of the house, and maybe this guy is the next ...(owned the Livery - name escapes me) but maybe you could find some facts before convicting him. Sadly enough, it wouldn't be difficult to find 50 other houses in that same condition in the immediate area.
Of course you could just as easily have taken Eran Epstein to task about his unfinished renovation of the apartments at Elmwood and Lafayette, which he apparently has owned longer, didn't appear to be in as bad shape initially, and also which haven't been worked on in over a year. (See the Zillycake post from earlier this week). And seriously, for those of you who haven't seen it first hand, walk by the Elmwood side. It is just as deplorable.
Why don't we let STEEL handle the housing posts, and QE, you can stick to the "Zillycakes" and fluff pieces.
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buffaloweiner
Here is an idea!
Will the people who know the most about this property public the name, address and phone number of the property owner here on Buffalo Rising.
Maybe a few phone calls and letters would convince this delinquent downstater that we are not some barefoot buck toothed hillbilly (no offense to the anti-defamation of barefoot buck toothed hillbilly lobby) that is going to stand by and let a recurrence of the livery happen again!
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PaulBuffalo
Buffaloweiner, you're glad to offend Jews, African-Americans, homosexuals and cicadas, but you draw the line at hillbillies?
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buffaloweiner
Well PaulBuffalo, I cant exactly aim my gun at the property owner who deserves both mine and the communities, focus of attention and rebuke....I cannot fire a diatribe against their negligence or state they are an embarrassment to their minority group hiding/deflecting their exploitation behind rebuttals of prejudice if I know not who they are....
Though if their from albany or downstate and their exploiting Buffalo and/or upstate I pretty much have a good idea which group that would be...still...my comments may be politically incorrect, occassionally impassioned, but they originate from truth and fact.
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comptart_lws
This is a very tight community and, you can be sure, there are block club members and housing activists who know the ownership history of the house. Previous owners (now both dead) had – shall we say, "social issues". I am not aware of who owns it now but, I betcha the closer neighbors, Kleinhans Community Assn and West Side Community Collaborative are very well informed and activated. Let me take a wild guess: this is another property within the jurisdiction of Housing Inspector Steve Pieri?
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Sal
On the City of Buffalo website, 428 Porter's owner is listed as PETERS EUGENE A and it was transferred by executor's deed for $45,000 in November 2006. This person continued to purchase at least 3 other properties with no mortgages in 2007, from my research.
A year and a half is enough time to at least paint the building. When I looked at the property in the summer of 2006, it was in very rough condition. Anyone purchasing the property would know that the building needed immediate stabilization money back then.
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clockhill
It's a shame, because it's an amazing house. Housing court, anyone?
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