Gutting Resumes at Graystone
Several BR readers have asked what is going on at the Graystone Hotel where a construction chute recently made an appearance. According to owner Carl Paladino, CEO of Ellicott Development, they are “cleaning trash out of” the building. In March, Ellicott revived plans to renovate the six-story building on Johnson Park into market-rate, upscale apartments.
Carl Paladino’s Ellicott Development purchased the property at 24 Johnson Park in March 2002. with plans to convert the complex into apartments. Work came to a halt after a worker fell through an upper floor while gutting the property. Several redevelopment plans for the property have been floated since, none moving off the drawing board.
Though signs of work are promising, renovation work is not assured. Paladino says he “won't build until spring and only if economy isn't in the shitter.”
The neighborhood has gotten stronger since Ellicott Development purchased the property. Issa’s troubles aside, a wave of over $300 million in public and private sector investment has recently been completed or is underway along Delaware and South Elmwood avenues. There also happens to be a lull in downtown residential development.
Opened in 1897, the former Berkeley Hotel was designed by Carlton Strong. The columned building is an early example of reinforced concrete construction. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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onestarmartin
Well Carl...with todays news you might as well start flushing, the whole world took a wicked crap.
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cyndrome
Eloquence is not his strong suit...but regardless of the economy, this is a handsome building in a good location and deserves much better. If the shaky economy is a concern why not consider mid-range condo or apartments? Or a mix? I can't be the only one who is getting tired of ''upscale''.
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nick
The problem with trying to fit in less than upscale units is that the concrete construction makes the building less adaptable, and the limited number of units may make the economics dicate that upscale is the only profitable program. There may just not be enough room to fit smaller, lower priced units. As far as condo v. apartments, Paladino is most likely utilizing historic tax credits which are not applicable for condo projects.
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Biniszkiewicz
Right now I don't think Paladino is using anything but his own funds to clean up the building. Renovations haven't started and, in fact, may never start depending upon the building's structural integrity which has yet to be determined.
Paladino is acting under pressure from housing court to fix the roof and clean up the interior sufficiently for building inspectors and engineers to evaluate the physical condition of the structure. In its current mess, the inspectors and engineers don't have access to see what they need to inspect, hence the cleanup. It might turn out to be that the cast concrete structure has endured too much frost/water damage over the years to be viable. If such proves to be the case, Paladino will surely petition for demolition. Hopefully that is not the case and the building will live for another 100 years. But at this point we don't know.
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Buffalo21stcentury
The reason why the building is so hard to redevelop from hotel rooms to apartments is because of that cast concrete....so excuse me for saying but concrete can handle water, winter, heat and snow thats why bridge supports and even bridge spans are made with steel re-inforced concrete.
Even if parts of the Greystone are in poor condition, there is a whole parking lot behind the greystone. The smart thing would be to keep the facade and rebuild the interior, perhaps even building additional apartments/condos on what is now a parking lot. The additional units will help recoup the expense of the entire project.
Look, not every building can be saved but other cities have learned to compromise with buildings that cannot be saved and keep the facade while constructing a new building in the interior. This scenario could easily apply to the greystone where the facade is perfect while the rear section is in most decay.
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tommyBluez
As far as I know -- the reason of the floor collapse wasn't deterioration; but the removal of a concrete column in the interior that they didn't realise was structural......
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tonyarmani
even more high priced luxury condos/apartments for a city that cannot afford what it has...i don't know where developers are thinking buyers are coming from? Paladino isn't stupid and I wouldnt be suprised if there wasnt another post in april on br.com saying "Paladino is doing nothing with this building" ...
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Hospitable
Handsome is a good word...especially with a parking lot in the rear.. save the facade bare minimum
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Hospitable
Blah blah blah... who's gonna buy them.. theres no market... we all neglet to mention the dozens of 300k homes going up in Clarence, OP, etc...they go up like hotcakes and a majority of those homes are just as far from your major retail and basic needs centers as your lofts and luxury apartments downtown.
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Biniszkiewicz
Note: the parking lot does not belong to the Greystone. The Greystone possesses no parking.
With regard to the structure: my understanding is that because of the construction method of this building it is not feasible to simply gut the interior and keep the facade. The building was built like so many shoe boxes stacked atop each other. It's a little like a house of cards: you cannot simply take out one wall without threatening other floors above. The original room sizes are set in concrete, pardon the phrase. You cannot make rooms larger, as you could with typical construction. The impact of the roof collapse (caused by the removal of a bearing wall) on the lower floors may or may not have shattered supporting structure underneath.
for those who think that because the structure is concrete that it is therefore impervious to weather: concrete parking ramps have to be constantly maintained because of weather. Every year or three the Mohawk Ramp (where I park) is jackhammered as voids in the concrete are identified and remediated. The concrete roof of the former Novo insurance building (Oak @ Broadway), though protected under a rubber roof, recently had to be dismantled and replaced due to water seepage over time compromising the concrete and rusting the steel reinforcement rods. With wood construction you can easily see the rot and know what needs replacement. With concrete construction what looks on the surface to be perfect might in practice be swiss cheese.
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gaustad
just knock this building down and get it over with..... it is useless.......and rotting
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pgf1948
That's right. Just tear it down. Get it over with. Get American "civilization" over with; it's already about 95% gone. How about a big box store? An off-track-betting office. Maybe a few nails and tattoos parlors.
There's always the ultimate ahievement: another "temporary" parking lot until that promised day when the highestr and best use for the land can be had.
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gaustad
pg, how about knocking it down and building a "W" hotel....or any hotel...something new perhaps....a row of brownstones, a shopping center, what use is it providing now?
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urbansoul
A "w" hotel. LOL. Most seasoned travelers would tell you that hotel is nothing. How about a Westin? Shows you how much gaustad knows.
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gaustad
How about a ritz carlton in this sh!thole? Cleveland has a ritz
urban, do you like chicken soup...bak bak bak
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