June 15, 2002
Wrong Way, Sidway
Wrong Way, Sidway
The good news – Buffalo recently got some high marks for progress being made on downtown housing.
The bad news – the Sidway Building conversion was cited among that progress.
The Sidway Building represents a classic case of how good things become bad things in Buffalo. The building is on the southeast corner of Goodell and Main streets. The exterior presents a solid, well-maintained edifice. It is apparent that the windows in the building were recently replaced.
As of June 1, 2002, the Sidway was home to about 40 tenants. But that's about to change.
Flushed with notions of a massive infusion of public and private capital in the Bioinformatics project planned in the Main-High Corridor, Ciminelli Management and Clover Management have decided to try to cash in on an anticipated demand for market rate housing by converting the Sidway Building to residential use.
This is simply a bad deal that is getting worse.
- Forget that the building has a high occupancy rate.
- Forget that a lot of vacant and abandoned buildings in the area cry out for redevelopment.
- Forget that as of this writing, the City of Buffalo has no details about the financials for the conversion of the building and is still on the verge of committing $1.5 million to the project.
- Forget that the out-going Commissioner of Strategic Planning is telling everyone the deal was shoved down his throat while the remaining staffers in the department insist no one but the Commish knew anything about it.
Tenants talk about the rude handling they've received at the hands of the new property managers. They joke about the double talk they've received when asked if they are entitled to relocation assistance when the move out of the Sidway. They question the need for government-assisted housing across the street from private development with private financing. They wonder how the building could be sold for $1.1 million a year ago and now attract $1.5 million in city assistance before plans are even on the table.
Much of that public money is supposed to be reserved for shelter for low income people, but there are no plans for such shelter in the Sidway Building. Poverty money? Yes. Poor people? Hell, no.
The tenants do their talking as they do their packing, because talking won't change the fact that this is what passes for progress in our city these days.— Spectator