The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency’s designation of the Specialty Restaurant Group as preferred developer for one of the last commercial sites in Waterfront Village is getting messy. Council President David Franczyk tells the Buffalo News he intends to “block action” on the proposal when it comes to the Common Council. Specialty Restaurants proposal for a four-story, 100 room Wingate Inn was selected over a competing plan by Ciminelli Cos. for a ten-story building with a 135 room Hilton Garden Inn, 80,000 sq.ft. of office space, ground floor retail and 76 interior parking spaces.
What the Brown Administration thought was a done deal is suddenly less so. New details on both proposals for the vacant waterfront site are trickling out prompting widespread head shaking over the selection.
The Buffalo News has the latest:
Common Council President David A. Franczyk said he will attempt to prevent the designation of a private developer for a prime site along the Erie Basin Marina from coming up for a vote. At issue is the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency’s selection of Specialty Restaurants Corp. to develop a $10 million, four-story Wingate Inn hotel at the Waterfront Village site.
“I’m going to recommend that it stay in committee when it comes to us,” Franczyk said. “The competing proposal seemed to be a much better project and that site deserves nothing less than the best.”
Franczyk said he’s “troubled” Ciminelli was not given a chance to present its proposal to the full BURA board. The mayor and city Economic Development Commissioner Brian Reilly maintain the more ambitious Ciminelli proposal does not comply with height and density restrictions for the marina-side parcel.
“I don’t know if complies or doesn’t comply because I haven’t heard (Ciminelli’s) pitch,” Franczyk said Friday. “From looking at their renderings and hearing their numbers, it’s something we should consider even if it requires amending the urban renewal guidelines.”
Franczyk said he’s “troubled” Ciminelli was not given a chance to present its proposal to the full BURA board. The mayor and city Economic Development Commissioner Brian Reilly maintain the more ambitious Ciminelli proposal does not comply with height and density restrictions for the marina-side parcel.
“I don’t know if complies or doesn’t comply because I haven’t heard (Ciminelli’s) pitch,” Franczyk said Friday. “From looking at their renderings and hearing their numbers, it’s something we should consider even if it requires amending the urban renewal guidelines.”
Specialty Restaurants’ financial plan to develop the new Waterfront Village Wingate Inn includes the use of both conventional and public financing. In their proposal, Specialty says it will privately finance “at least 25 percent of the cost of the project, being coupled with existing public subsidies and incentives to be used for the hotel’s funding.”
According to the Buffalo News, Ciminelli says it “is not currently our expectation to seek public assistance from local sources or any other public entity. However, it does indicate market conditions could dictate a change in that stance.”
Ciminelli is also offering more for the site, $1.2 million, while Specialty Restaurants proposes to “negotiate a minimum of a $100,000 purchase price for the parcel.”
Franczyk along with Councilmembers Kearns and LoCurto were the sole dissenters at Thursday’s BURA meeting awarding the site to Specialty Restaurants.
Local bloggers are also perplexed over the selection of the subpar proposal: