Call Off the Bulldozers, Pull the For Sale Signs
The Long Island-based owners of the AM&As complex have pulled the property off the market and expect to proceed with plans for a renovation after all. Revived plans call for rehabilitation of both the main building and the warehouses along Washington Street into a mix of 180 apartments and ground floor retail. The new development comes just days after two prominent developers suggested demolition was the best solution for the prime, yet long-vacant properties.
New Horizons Acquisitions had put the properties up for sale with a $3.99 million asking price and in a strange twist now says the properties were put up for sale in error. According to this morning’s Buffalo News:
Fakiris said the AM&A’s complex was apparently placed on the selling block in error. He was looking into the matter Thursday but speculated that the “mistake” might have occurred when he was in Europe.
“I own the building, and the building is not for sale,” he said.
The jump-started renovation plans carry a $60 million price tag. A development soap opera!
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Balth
All of you people posting on the other article about how Paladino and Ciminelli are so amazing can finally SHUT UP! When have we ever torn a building down in this city and gotten something of better quality than what was there? The Tishman? The Main Place Mall/Tower? Key Towers? ANY PARKING GARAGE? We need to stop tearing things down around here unless there is a plan to replace it, PERIOD.
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Buffalopundit
The interior of AM&A is a disaster. They should maintain the facades and completely re-do the interior. How's that for win-win?
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Perry
Buffalo Pundit - I agree with your post. Plus, we can preserve that Steve Christie ARTVOICE billboard that's on the side of the building. It's so old, it might warrent preservation status.
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Biniszkiewicz
Stay tuned. There are more twists to come in this saga, I'll bet. My guess is that these particular owners will not redevelop the property and will, in the end, sell it. In the meantime, it does not offend me that the building is vacant. So long as the bones are preserved (repair/replace roof, etc.), there is little downside to keeping the structure up until redevelopment plans become concrete.
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al-alo
hahhahahahahah! bulldoze it anyway! crush - kill - destroy! leave nothing standing! I demand parking and minimalls!
but really, who mistakenly tries to sell a building for 4 mil? do i ever say: "oops - did i just sell my house? i should have paid better attention."
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Jefferson
Fishy.
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pantsonfire
I can't wait to see this on Leno... There are good reasons for us to be the butt of so many jokes!
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jstraubinger
Sounds like the "For Sale" was a trial balloon to test the market for interest. Looks like the test was a failure so it's back to a development plan again. I don't think the current owners will do anything with this building except use it for tax depreciation. "I was out of the country" is almost as lame as an excuse as "My dog has been eating my homework".
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Hospitable
A BIG NEVERMIND..... gut the interior restore this 1840's facade I've heard about... anyone have any pictures of what it looks like underneath the current skin?
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Olcott_Beach
I have never been in the AM&A’s Building but have continuously heard that it is a combination of five buildings erected over a lengthy period of time.
It has been also mentioned that the building is a forest of building columns but, considering that this was a department store, I cannot fathom building columns being randomly placed. The building must have a certain amount of open space in order to have accommodated counters, isles, etc.
By chance, is there any urban explorers who have managed to enter this building and take a few photographs?
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Spaulding97
Next time on "As Am&As turns", find out who really is behind all the secret for sale rumors, and if that isn't exciting enough, wait till you hear what Paladino says about this out-of-town developer... it ain't pretty! One of these three developers won't make it out alive mwghghghahaha!!
Well back to square one.
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Quinn
Square One should be a cell block. If I let my house go like or purchased a home and let it sit in that condition, I'd be in front of Judge Nowak and paying a huge fine. Why, Why, Why do these out of town speculators get to adjourn like crazy and never pay fines? I remember reading that the owner was cited for violations. Shouldn't the next step be long-arm jurisdiction for a stint in jail? Where is the accountability? Has the building in fact been secured?
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atypical
If the state can provide a $5.1 million grant for the Hyatt, why can't the owners of this building receive similar grants to rehab this old building?
PS: BuffaloPundit: What's up with your site?
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MisterChips
Here's a history of the AM&A's complex. The ornate 19th century facades were removed when it was reclad in limestone in the 1930s. To appreciate the lost Main Street facades, all you have to do is walk around the block to Washington Street and look up. The rear facades of the combined buildings were not altered in the 1930s remodel.
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HelenWheels
Quinn, all the inspectors ever say during sentancing in Judge Nowak's court on commercial properties is "In the interest of econcomic development the city would request a reduced or zero fine" BULLSHIT! Tobe has to give a little back to the little guys, too, not just the big bozos who let these properties sit and rot. Afterall, it's the little guys (us citizens) who have to deal with the decay.
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dude
Fakiris is obviously full of shit. In that recent video interview, Paladino pretty much called his investment group out for who they real are-- out of town flippers.
Even though I kinda like the 30s facade, I think it would actually do these buildings a great service by subdividing the complex into the separate buildings they once were and subsequently bringing back the old facades. But hey, as Carl says, "this is Buffalo"...we know the right thing will never be done.
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BROKEEPSBLOCKINGME
Wow!!! Look at that pic...That street is teeming with people... This guy is obviously just covering his ass
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RPreskop
Yeah right, the current owners have revived plans for the redevelopment and restoration of this mediocre work of architecture from the 1930s. That is what they have been saying for the past several years and nothing seems to come to fruition and old AM&As continues to deteriorate closer to the point of no return. When is this soap opera with the old AM&As going to end is anyones guess. When are we finally going to be free to demolish and clear out this decrepit, deteriorated department store and get on with life. Fakiris and his investors are a bunch of political bullshit artists and out-of-town slumlords just like the last owners of this site. They are just holding this prime downtown site hostage for their own personal gain and if anyone cannot see this then they cannot see clearly. Fakiris has no intention of doing anything with old AM&As other then to just sit on it and wait for downtown property values to increase and the region's economy to fully revive. Hey Balth, The Key Towers at fountain plaza are a definate major architectural and aesthetic improvement over the decrepit, decayed, crammed-in rat traps that formerly occupied that prime site. The twin towered Key Bank complex is also architecturally superior to the shitty, mediocre AM&As department store complex so do not find fault with Key Towers because they are among Buffalo's best buildings PERIOD.
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Denizen
RPreskop, "crammed in" streetscapes happen to make up some of the most exciting city environments. Go visit a real city sometime. You'll notice this right away.
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aka_mouse
Hell yeah Denizen... Id also like to ask RPreskop whats gonna be in its place once its knocked down ? A weed choked dumping ground collecting trash? or yet ONE MORE surface parking lot downtown? PICK ONE. A decaying empty building is ugly. An empty lot in the middle of a city is a million times uglier. And for all the talk of potential "green space" - never gonna happen in a million years. It'll be an above ground urban landfill full of beer cans/bottles and car tires (and maybe larger junk) and nothing else.
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TBone
Sounds like someone realized they weren't going to get anyone to buy at their ridiculous asking price. Next step? My guess is the owner will sit on it for a few more years and try again... this guy seems more interested in speculation than in development.
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