To no great surprise, a prominent site on Court Street will remain a parking lot for the foreseeable future. Ellicott Development’s Carl Paladino tells The Buffalo News today that his plan for a new office building at 50 Court Street have been postponed “because the economy is in the [toilet].”
“The downtown office market is terrible,” he said. “We’re going to have to wait until the other shoe falls.”
Ellicott Development has been trying to build an office building at 50 Court Street since the late 1980’s. The project has been delayed by the lack of anchor tenant, lawsuits and now a shaky economy. On the bright side, Paladino confirms that law firm Phillips Lytle has recently looked at the site as a relocation option.
The office building is proposed to be built on what is now a surface parking lot on the south side of Court Street between Pearl and Franklin streets.
Owning half of the needed site, Paladino agreed to pay $700,000 for the City-owned portion in 2006 with development deadlines built into the sale agreement. Patrick Hotung’s Main Place Liberty Group countered with a higher offer which was rejected. Hotung sued. The lawsuit was dismissed, but Ellicott missed several deadlines and lost out on a few tenants that took space elsewhere.
Last year, Paladino proposed a smaller, eight-story, 225,000 sq.ft. building. The previous plan, teaming with McGuire Development, was for an 11-story glass clad office building designed by Kideney Architects with 335,000 sq.ft. of space and underground parking. According to the extension granted by the City, Ellicott was required to have financing in place and construction started by mid-August. It is unknown if the City will grant a further extension to the developer.
There is a dearth of large blocks of Class-A space downtown to attract new or expanding tenants. Uniland Development is marketing 75,000 of space on three floors at Avant. Several developers are marketing space in rehabbed buildings including CityView Properties’ Genesee Gateway and Iskalo Development’s Electric Tower.
Get Connected: Ellicott Development: 716.854.0060