The City’s new “get tough” policy on negligent property owners will have a big test on Monday. Darryl Carr, owner of 110 and 118 South Park Avenue in the Cobblestone District, is heading to City Housing Court on Monday. Again. Carr’s stewardship of the historic properties has been abysmal and the City’s inability to resolve the problem is beyond embarrassing.
The properties are the most iconic and most historically significant structures in the Cobblestone Historic District which was established in 1993 by the Buffalo Preservation Board and certified by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the federal standards for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. 110 South Park originally housed Muggeridge’s Steam Bakery which made hardtack for the Union army during the civil war. As late as the mid-nineties, 118 South Park was home to Rudnicki’s blacksmith shop.
He pursued a demolition permit for 118 South Park in 2011 but was denied. At that time, Housing Court Judge Patrick Carney today told an attorney for Carr that the blacksmith shop building at 118 South Park Avenue had to be fixed in two weeks or Carr would be jailed. He made some superficial repairs only days before the court appearance to escape that penalty. In 2015 he was fined $15,000 and was ordered to stabilize and seal the buildings. He’s been in and out of court since then.
Those who care about these structures can show up in court this Monday at 9:30 am to express support and ask to speak to the Court on the matter: City Housing Court, 50 Delaware Avenue, 6th floor Part 14.