Buffalo Rising Online

Is one of the country’s largest condo developers eyeing Buffalo for a loft/condo project? That appears to be the case if a story in this week’s South Florida Business Journal is accurate. A story on The Related Group, Florida's top multi-family developer and largest Hispanic-owned business in the United States, suggests Buffalo as the type of market appropriate for its line of ‘Loft-brand’ mid-priced condos. The developer has found success with four Loft-branded condos in downtown Miami and is looking to take the concept to other cities, like Buffalo.

Neo announcing a move off of Allen Street is surprising. 46 Allen back on the market is not. Six months after purchasing the property last December for $73,000, Vito Pombano has the property listed at $275,000. Allentown property values are skyrocketing!

When purchased, the new owner was reportedly planning to restore the former rooming house into apartments. While a dumpster signaled some work was underway, the tired-looking exterior hasn’t changed much in the past six months.

Today, Hunt Commercial is advertising the building as a “2,704 SF completely renovated office building. Four offices available, 190 SF / 290 SF / 350 SF / 640 SF. All offices include kitchenettes. 700 SF vacant apartment. Perfect building for an owner-user.”

Last September when the property first came

Eight properties owned by the estate of the late Stephen McGarvey are in play and are already drawing interest. Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus officials are looking to buy the former Trico and M.Wile factories. The buildings, including a vast surface parking lot on Ellicott Street, are up for grabs as a package or piecemeal. McGarvey’s properties are geing sold under the watchful eyes of a Pennsylvania banktruptcy court.

Erie, PA-based McGarvey purchased the sprawling Trico Plant in 1999 and the adjacent former M. Wile factory in 2000. He promptly announced ambitious plans to convert both properties into mixed-use commercial space. Dubbed Century Centre I & II, work began on renovations to the M. Wile building but stalled after the developer ran into financial difficulties including potential foreclosure due to unpaid property taxes.

BSC Group has a Statler website up with an appropriately titled banner: Past Glory and Future Promise. Like the building, the website is a work in progress. Details such as floorplans are not available as of yet, but you get a good sense of the building’s history, progress to date, and what the future holds for the Niagara Square landmark. It is truly a live-work-play development plan.

Some interesting Sunday browsing.

Reports of the Tishman Building’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Contrary to what a prominent downtown property owner believes, the Tishman Building does have a pulse and future. Current owner Meyer Holtzman has made significant progress leasing the Lafayette Square tower by focusing on tech and start-up firms.

In late 2005, Holtzman paid under $1 million for the then-vacant 20-story office building. Brian LoPresto has been retained by owner Meyer Holtzman to market the building to companies looking for affordable downtown space. We have been following the leasing efforts in recent months. Here’s where leasing stands to date:

Yellow tape is flapping along Washington Street behind the main AM&A’s building. A crime scene? Some would call it that. Portions of the building’s façade are breaking off creating a hazard to pedestrians and cars. Across the street, the former AM&A's warehouses caused similar sidewalk and lane closings in late-May as chunks of the masonry façade came loose and fell. Workers secured the warehouse building by chipping away loose terra cotta tile and bricks.

John King writes a column titled Place focusing on urban design and architecture for the San Francisco Chronicle. Earlier this month he listed what he sees as the principles of good design, particularly multi-use structures in cities. After the jump, a summary of his article that is suitable for printing, saving and applying in Buffalo.

Michelle Mazzone has a challenging job- she has been retained to help reposition and refill the Main Place and Liberty Building properties in the center of downtown. Good news: she is making progress. Two law firms have recently committed to leases in the Liberty Building to occupy 26,000 sq.ft. of space. ‘Several’ other office deals are pending and there are preliminary plans to address the retail space in the properties.

Developers have unveiled plans to convert the dormant Alling & Cory warehouse at Elm and North Division streets into apartments geared towards students attending Erie Community College downtown. A total of 80 units would occupy the L-shpaed, 102,000 sq.ft., six-story brick and concrete structure and two smaller buildings on the site. East Amherst-based Regent Developments Inc. of East Amherst is proposing the $15 million conversion project.

In the market for a fire station? The former Engine #2 and Ladder #9 at the corner of Jersey Street and Plymouth Avenue is up for sale with an asking price of $213,000. The historic building was constructed in 1875 and has been in private ownership since 1999. It was sold by the City after a replacement station opened at Elmwood Avenue and Virginia Street.

Most everyone has an opinion on the proposed Seneca Buffalo Creek casino. Many opponents base their beliefs on social impacts or moral issues while proponents point to nearby casinos and say, “too late.” Others look at it from an economic development perspective. New jobs and more money into the region make a casino a no-brainer, right? Not so fast says a story in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal .

First Amherst Development is putting the finishing touches on the pioneering Lofts @ Elk Terminal project in the Cobblestone District. With construction on the final 18 luxury lofts nearing completion, the developer has retained Dave Majewski’s Premium Services Inc. to add some green to the food warehouse turned 70-unit loft complex. The horticulture and landscape design firm created and is installing a unique and fully sustainable landscape program on the property.

This great commercial building has recently been listed with Hunt Commercial. The Slotkin Building is a quaint 5,550 sq.ft. on two floors plus a usable 2,000 sq.ft. basement. It is said to need extensive work throughout, particularly the second floor, but the ground floor is built-out as office space. Know where it is? Answer after the jump.

I don’t hunt or fish, and knew little about Bass Pro prior to the suggestion that the retailer was an ideal anchor to the inner harbor. I still have not been to one of their stores, but my brother has. A self-proclaimed outdoorsman, he visits frequently despite the store being fifty miles from his suburban Atlanta home.