Back in February, we posted that the “X” of Death was spotted on 69 Whitney at the corner of Carolina, which raised a lot of concern due to the structure being located in one of Buffalo’s most architecturally interesting blocks. In this case, it was a buckling mansard roof that was most concerning for the West Village Historic District property. It was also apparent that the owner, Efraim Ullman, was not serious about selling the neglected building, as he was asking $700,000 for the property.
After being in and out of housing court, scaffolding appeared on the property in July, giving hope that Ullman was going to stabilize the building. It ended up being a mirage to keep the City inspectors off of his back and no actual work appeared to be completed. But back taxes caught up with him and the property was (finally!) sold at the last in-rem auction. On Thursday, the property was transferred to Peter Faris for $32,000 according to County Clerk records. Faris owns a well-maintained, one-story commercial building at 3146 Bailey Avenue according to City property records. Hope springs eternal. We will be watching this one.