Game across an article on the Market from the Buffalo News’ Ray Hill from March 1991.  Is it me…because 1991 doesn’t seem like almost twenty years ago?!?!?!

[click here to read article - pdf]

Dr. Richard Jurasek, president of Medaille College, and Dr. Norman Muir, dean of the undergraduate college, recently spent four days in Taiwan signing a dual-degree 2+2 partnership with the Fortune Institute of Technology in Kaohsiung. They delivered a presentation on Medaille College and trends in higher education to over 100 students at
Ping Dong High School in [...]

For the second time in three days the Bills are hosting a free agent in the hopes of improving their offensive line. Buffalo welcomed free agent offensive tackle Cornell Green to One Bills Drive Mo...

Businessman Mark Croce was intrigued when he was approached by City officials with a proposal to put a parking ramp on a lot owns at the corner of S. Elmwood Avenue and W. Huron Street.  Croce agreed to keep an open mind on the proposed public-private partnership, but is insisting that the City meet several conditions if the project is going to proceed.

Croce told the City that he wasn't interested in creating another "concrete bunker parking ramp" and that what he had in mind, parking with mixed-uses, would cost more but have curb appeal.

"I always wanted to do mixed-use on that property," says Croce.  "I bought it as a development site, not for a surface parking lot."

The City is interested in increasing parking supply in the growing south Delaware Avenue corridor where the Avant opened last year, New Era's new headquarters is located, and the new Federal Courthouse opens in 2011.  Additional parking can also alleviate a major impediment to reuse of the mothballed Statler building.  Croce's site is where the original Statler parking garage was located before it was demolished in the 1980s. 

Croce proposes a mixed-use building that would incorporate ground floor retail and restaurant space, eleven floors of parking topped by four floors of office space.  He is insisting that the façade be attractive and "not look like a parking structure."  Croce also wants the building to be as 'green' or sustainable as practical.  And, he wants the City to consider overhauling their current parking policies and system that keeps rates artificially low thereby filling existing ramps with monthly parkers.

According to Croce, a private developer cannot cash flow pencil-out structured parking in the current downtown market, primarily due to the subsidized competition from Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps.  That is why none get privately built in the downtown core. 

The City-Croce deal is far from finalized.  Mayor Brown was in Washington this week seeking $7 million in federal funding to help pay for the project.  Croce admits it will be a complex partnership but understands the need for the City to help provide parking in the area, particularly for the Statler. 

"Everyone who looks at it [the Statler] cries about parking," he says.  "Potential buyers are hammering on the City to solve the parking issue."

Croce says he has no interest in buying the Statler but wants to be part of the solution.  "It has to make sense for everyone."  He agrees that available nearby parking is needed to market the Statler. 

"No one in their right mind is going to take on an 800,000 sq.ft. building without one parking spot.  Put the parking piece in place," says Croce.  "It is not the end-all, but it improves the marketability of the Statler."

When asked if he knew of any serious buyers for the building he says he knows of a "few people sniffing around." 

"No one guy is going to come in and redo the building," he predicts.  "It will likely need to be a team of developers."  Croce worries about the property being purchased on the cheap by a speculator. 

"I'd hate to see another AM&A's situation where a buyer comes in without a plan and the property sits vacant for years."

If a buyer is not found soon, Croce endorses a proposal put forward by Howard Zemsky to steer the property to a nonprofit entity.  The nonprofit could stabilize it until a realistic reuse proposal comes along. 

Young + Wright Architectural has drawn up plans for Croce's mixed-use proposal.  Croce says the design is still preliminary and points out that he is driving the design, not the City.  The rendering depicts a glass and masonry façade with varied detailing to break up the mass of the building. 

The building's entrance will be on S. Elmwood Avenue.  Though there is no other retail space along this stretch of the street, the building will have approximately 2,000 sq.ft. of first floor retail or restaurant space flanking the main entrance to serve the neighborhood and the building. 

Garage entrances will be provided on both on S. Elmwood & W. Mohawk streets.  The parking structure is an efficient design utilizing "speed" ramps with flat parking at every level for quick & convenient access. 

State-of-the-art parking technology would be employed to direct parkers to the next available space on different levels utilizing parking stall sensor technology & LED signage.  There would be automated Pay-n-Display stands at every-other level and credit card readers at the exits.  Validated parking can be accommodated with this technology as well.

Seeing comments about building parking underground, Croce says it is "it substantially more expensive to go down than it is to go up, which is already very expensive to start with.  Plus, the higher you build, the more dramatic effect you have on Buffalo's skyline which hasn't changed much in the last 20 years.  People don't realize that the water table in this part of town is only 10-12 ft. down."

The ramp will be topped by 150,000 sq.ft. of office space on four levels. "Imagine parking and taking an elevator right up to your suite," says Croce.  "The views on the top four floors are dramatic and panoramic like at Avant.  There are no buildings obstructing a beautiful view of the city and the lake at this height."

The site is in the heart of the government district, close to banking, entertainment, theatre, restaurants, coffee shops, and several hotels including the boutique hotel Croce is building at the corner of Huron and Franklin streets.  Croce believes this is an ideal location for "multiple high profile professional office tenants." 

Croce sees the project as an investment that grows the tax base, assists with redevelopment of the Statler, and supports the creation and retention of quality jobs. 

"I want the neighborhood to grow," says Croce.  "It helps my restaurants and other businesses and it will add to the vibrancy of downtown."

Typical parking level.

A federal judge has ordered Erie County to open the Holding Center to Justice Department investigators for two days to determine whether changes can be made to prevent more inmates from committing suicide.

Buffalo News recently wrote about “Both Sides” of the Sycamore Village Development.

- Housing Upgrades – at any cost
- Sycamore residents devoted to East Side revitalization

A small jaunt east out of Downtown Buffalo will bring you to Sycamore Village.  Sycamore Village is an upscale development in one of the poorest parts of Buffalo.

House range from a $225,000 colonial that sells for $176,000 or a $215,000 one for a mere $90,000.  Don’t worry about the taxes because there aren’t any for the first 10 year.

The catch?  Your family has to make less than $50,800.

It is very reasonable for a $50k/year family to be able to afford a $90,000 home, it is less likely that they can afford a $176,000 home (that could be taxed as a $225,000 home down the road).  It might not even be a good idea for a single person family to buy that much house with a $50,000/year income.

Buffalo is devoted to East Side revitalization, but are they doing it “Smart”? 

Does it make sense to bar higher income families from a section you are trying to revitalize? 

Does it make sense to offer too much house to a family that may not afford it?

How do we fix this without simply throwing money at it?

Article by Richard Wade:

When Eberl Iron Works, Inc. was founded back in 1923, it was nothing more than a small welding shop manned by a few workers. As the company stands today, it has five different and distinct divisions. Those divisions include the following:

·         Metal Fabrication
·         Unistrut Buffalo
·         Traffic Safety Products
·         Rooftop Support Systems
·         Systems Installation

"The company is focused on saving its customers money", says Nora Eberl, who serves as the companies' Chief Financial Officer. "We've been able to accomplish that by adding value to each of the products we sell," said Eberl.

After spending six years in public accounting, Eberl joined the family business. Her degree in accounting allowed her to adjust to the role of CFO. "I really think my degree complements the tasks I'm presented with on a daily basis," said Eberl.

There are only a handful of companies that have been in existence for 80+ years. So how does a company like Eberl Iron Works survive?

"It's a combination of our core values, which include: Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, Respect, Communication, Quality Service and Innovation," said Eberl. We have also used outside consultants, instituted Six Sigma principles, and worked in conjunction with UB's Center for Industrial Effectiveness to better our business in its entirety."

The newest of the five divisions at Eberl Iron Works is the Rooftop Support Systems division.  It was launched in August 2009. The Rooftop Support Systems division makes custom non-penetrating components to fit existing roofing systems. The supports are used in the HVAC and Piping industries among others.

So what would prompt a company to expand with a new division, when many other companies are hemorrhaging money and barely staying afloat?

"We saw a huge opportunity in the market," said Nora Eberl. "We are a growth-oriented company."

"There is a need in our area. Lead times can be quite long,' said George Hartman, Project Coordinator for the Rooftop Support Systems division. We have been able to supply these supports in a short amount of time."

It's a rare sight to see. With all of the government bailouts and exorbitant executive bonuses, society often is left to guess who the good guys are. It is evident that Eberl Iron Works is one of those businesses that others should model themselves after.

Eberl Iron Works
128 Sycamore Street
Buffalo, NY 14204
(716) 854-7633

The amount of food I eat during the winter could be mistaken for pre-hibernation prep work.  That's why it was a good thing that my boyfriend and I recently found ourselves at Nektar on Elmwood Avenue. Owner Stavros Malliaris was very gracious and he came out and made some recommendations.  It turned out that we were familiar with Stavros from his other establishment (next door)-- Ambrosia.  

The decor of the restaurant is very modern with simple colors and concepts.  Even though it was hard to take photos in the darker setting, the place felt very comfortable... very nice for a date.  

As we were going over the menu, the server brought out bread from the local bakery Dolci with a dip of olive oil, herbs, and balsamic vinegar.  Right off, we tried the Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Stavros' Lamb Chops, and the BBQ Ribs.  As we had hoped, we got so much food - though if you are in the mood for a lighter dinner the 'small plates' menu is a great option.  Out of these three items, my favorite was the Sweet Potato Gnocchi.  The gnocchi was delicious! It had a very nice texture, and I loved the sweet, fruity flavors in the cream sauce. 

 

The gnocchi was great and I'm very glad that we had Stavros' Lamb Chop to balance out the sweet flavors of the dish.  The lamb lollychops were served on top of a bed of fries with Greek dressing, feta, chopped onions and tomatoes. 

My boyfriend, Keith, loved the BBQ Ribs. They were falling off the bones and he didn't bother with forks and knives. Before I had a chance to take some more pictures he was already setting the bones on the bread plate.  I had to remind him that we still had entrees coming.  

For dinner, I had the Beef Short Ribs and Keith had the Angus Kansas City Steak.  The braised ribs were served with rosemary polenta and brocolini.  The beef was soft and I was told that it had been cooking all day-- it tasted like it.  I love hearty meals like this during the Buffalo winters.  Keith's steak entree was cooked to his liking and it made him regret wolfing down so much BBQ ribs earlier in the meal. 

For dessert, we had the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee and the Bread Pudding ala mode.  I confess: I love Creme Brulee and this Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee made a really great ending to the dinner.  The bread pudding with the ice cream was awesome.  This is a great dessert for two people to share.  

We left very happy with left overs for lunch the next day.  

I apologize for not having better photos. 

Nektar will be participating in Local Restaurant Week next week!

Nektar

451 Elmwood Ave. 

Buffalo, NY 14222-2011

(716) 881-1829

The Bell Ringer Auction, always an exciting event, will be held at the Creekside Banquet Center, 2669 Union Road, Cheektowaga, on Saturday, March 27, 2010. New, gently used, and antique items will be raffled, and you will have an opportunity to bid on unique collectables in a silent auction.

In the past we have offered Lladro figurines, Hummel and Lenox porcelain, antique jewelry, and valuable gift certificates for restaurants, recreation, personal services and entertainment. This year’s items are exceptional in both quality and variety.

Doors open at 11:00 AM for browsing and ticket sales. A delicious luncheon of baked stuffed chicken breast with dressing, vegetables, salad, bread basket, coffee tea and dessert will be served at noon.

[read more--->]

Anyone up for a caption contest?

A group of Illinois State students were in Buffalo on their spring break volunteering a helping out some of B-F’s favorite places.

[read more at WIVB dot com]

Via Rochester Turning, Eric Massa (NY-29)explains what all the “sexual harrassment” fuss is about:

I have to come find out that on New Year’s Eve, I went to a staff party — it was actually a wedding for a staff member of mine. There were 250 people there. I was with my wife, and in fact we had a great time. She got the stomach flu, I went down to sing Auld Lang Syne. And with cameras on me — I’m talking three of them — filming me, I danced with the bride, and I danced with the bridesmaid. Absolutely nothing occurred.

I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat at down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them, by the way bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don’t know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that.

And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, ‘What I really ought to be doing is frakking you,’ and then tossled the guy’s hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn’t be there.

Was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely.

Is that even remotely similar or comparable to, e.g., what Mark Foley did? Absolutely not. Top top it off, Massa went on the radio yesterday to allege that the ethics inquiry is politically motivated to push him out of the House in order to get final resolution on health care reform. Massa has been a no vote for anything not containing a strong and vibrant public option. He even suggested that he might rescind his resignation.

So, now that we know the genesis of the sexual harassment claim against Massa, I wholeheartedly condemn his drunken use of the word “fuck” to connote sexual intercourse with a man in a joking manner after a wedding reception.

In the meantime, I reiterate my earlier statement. I’m disappointed in his retirement, and saddened by the news that his cancer has re-appeared. Best wishes to him – a principled and honorable guy.

Albany’s dysfunction is definitely at fault for “killing” the city, as Donn Esmonde calls it. But not for the reasons – or the issue – he cites.

Buffalo developer Rocco Termini has become the official developer by appointment to the court of Mayor Brown in recent years, and without a doubt has taken up and actually completed a number of high-profile projects in the city. His specialty, for which he’s received the most accolades, is to take an abandoned shell of a building and rehabilitate it to something beautiful and useful. Termini is the principal of Signature Development, which offers lots of rehabbed lofts for rent around town. He has cultivated a reputation as a forward-thinking, city-friendly doer, and it’s well-earned.

His two recently announced projects involved complete rehabilitation and renovation of the decade-long vacant AM&A on Main Street, and the Lafayette Hotel Flophouse on Lafayette Square. Both buildings are beautiful grande dames of downtown, both are dead buildings. To renovate both and lurch them into the 21st century would cost almost $100 million apiece.

Because Buffalo is Buffalo, one can’t just plug $100 million into a dead building and expect to get a reasonable return on that investment (See: al-Issa, Bashar). Tax credits and other government incentives need to be part of the financing mix in order for these projects to get done.

Without them, the buildings are vacant and boarded-up.

But the plans for both the AM&A and Lafayette Hotel projects have been halted. Termini blames 2009 Albany legislation that was supposed to ease the path to completion. As Esmonde puts it,

The law was supposed to hand developers the tax-credit help they needed to revive big, historic buildings. Instead, in typical Albany fashion, it turns out we were handed a near-empty bag. The law touted by Hoyt as a cure-all is, we are painfully finding out, missing key pieces that are the difference between a bang and a whimper.

“It’s not even half a loaf,” developer Rocco Termini told me last week. “It’s nothing . . . This law is useless.”…

…Paterson and his bean-counters are to blame for neutering the law over concerns about its costs. That view ignores the bigger picture: Albany’s short-term outlay in tax credits pays off in the long run as people are put to work; as grand downtown buildings are revived and spur other development; as new property tax dollars flow.

Hoyt slammed Paterson’s budget director, Robert Megna, for persuading Paterson last summer to de-fang the tax credit bill. Hoyt said he is trying to persuade Paterson to now sign a full-package tax-credit law, one that does what last year’s law was supposed to: Make it financially doable for developers to revive historic buildings.

A lot of fingers get pointed at Assemblyman Sam Hoyt over this, because he was one of the law’s sponsors, but also because Termini’s high-profile, well-publicized halted projects and pointed criticisms are directed his way. To ignore the fact that it’s an election year and Hoyt is despised by the Mayor, facing a challenge from Golombek, who is seeking Golisano/Pigeon funding, and is, frankly, an easy target because of who he is. You know – a legacy with a checkered past.

You get the feeling that, when it comes to this disagreement and moaning over historic redevelopment tax credits, that you’re only getting one side of the story. Esmonde spoke with Hoyt, and quotes him selectively to make him sound like a feckless milquetoast.

Termini? He may be the savior of the Webb Building and a media darling, but it’s not widely known that he’s a principal in Burke Brothers Construction, which has had its share of housing court issues, and was cited in yesterday’s Buffalo News story about the failures of the city-subsidized home-ownership program.

When Hoyt’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit legislation was passed by the Albany legislature unanimously in both houses, it contained all of the provisions Termini is complaining about. The governor vetoed the bill as too expensive, and he explained to Hoyt that he would sign it into law if this was corrected.

In the end, the veto threat centered around a few important provisions that enabled banks, insurers, and out-of-state investors to buy the tax credits. So, the choice was: pass a watered-down imperfect law, or risk another veto.

Yet since that time, Paterson has signaled twice that he might allow the necessary changes to go through. If made, there would be a huge positive impact on the budget. Once made, shovels go into the ground throughout upstate. The Lafayette and AM&A’s would be among them, but it would hugely benefit all of upstate. Naturally, this puts thousands of people to work, pulling people off unemployment, returning income and sales taxes to the state. At the same time, the expense to the state is deferred as the tax credit only gets paid out after the project is complete which, in the case of the bigger projects, is likely to be several years down the road when, presumably the economy is much healthier.

Esmonde’s petulant retort:

And if a frog had wings, it would not bump its butt. Look, I want this to happen as much as anybody. But I doubt that a politically wounded governor will agree to something that, in the short run, adds an expense when he is facing an $8 billion budget hole. The time, in my view, to get this done right was last summer, and—as we are painfully learning —that did not happen.

Nor would it have.

Now, an imperfect bill may not work wonders for Rocco Termini, but Hoyt has cited some smaller developers who have hired people to help with their workload since the law was passed.

There was a strategy behind all this. After the veto, the choice would have been to do nothing, or to engage in negotiation and compromise. Choosing the latter path was the only way to retain and maintain the leverage to push for the amendments that were lost – the ones about which Termini is complaining. Without the existing law, they’d be pushing a much heavier cart up a much steeper hill. The law itself is targeted to especially defined parts of upstate that are whacked with economic blight. Not just Buffalo, but Rochester, Syracuse, Jamestown, and other places looking for their rust belt revival.

While Hoyt’s strategy to push through the changes to this law that were excised from it during last year’s negotiations at least make sense, the criticisms don’t. Maybe the law as written doesn’t help Termini rehab AM&A and the Lafayette, but there are loads of smaller-scale projects throughout upstate that have been directly helped along by this tax credit scheme.

Eliminating blight and putting people to work is an objectively good thing.

According to Hoyt, there were two choices last summer – compromise or do nothing. Doesn’t it make more sense for Buffalo’s biggest columnist and renowned developer to put pressure on the Governor to make needed changes, and to encourage the local delegation to get behind the bill? I’m not understanding why waging a media war against Hoyt is somehow going to make stuff happen faster or better.

There once was a time. A time when society moved people primarily by sea and by rail, a time when sports like boxing and horse racing were big deals. When baseball was truly America’s favorite game.

And during that time college basketball was king at Madison Square Garden. In an age when the Knicks were in their infancy and the Rangers were beginning a long Stanley Cup drought, the sport of big time college hoops was a marquee event with multiple doubleheaders throughout the season bringing in the best teams from around the country(by train in those days) to take on the best New York had to offer. NYU, Manhattan, LIU, CCNY, and St. John’s were all New York schools that were considered to be major players of the sport back then.

And it would all cumulate in the National Invitation Tournament, then the preeminent postseason basketball tournament that would be played in its entirety at the Garden. For fans of this sport, there was no better place to be than New York at the time.

Years have passed, the NIT is a shell of its former self, and Garden college hoops isn’t close to what it used to be. The city’s only remaining big time college hoops school – St. John’s – has struggled like never before this past decade and rarely does a college hoops game at the Garden elicit a big response from the national sports scene anymore.

Save for a few days in March when the Big East holds its annual postseason tournament. For five days, the conference’s sixteen teams duke it out for a bid in the NCAA Tournament. Sure, with the Big East being a power conference there are going to be many (perhaps eight or more teams) heading into the field of sixty five from this tournament anyway. But for this one week, the Garden’s image as a college basketball mecca returns reminding many of its glory days with several matchups featuring teams ranked among the nation’s elite.

So today, off I go to New York(Andrew joins me during the second round on Wednesday) in a style that is unprecedented in USRT history. To mark the time of the Garden’s hoops heyday (and because it’s something we haven’t done before) we’re heading out by train from Buffalo’s Exchange Street Station and taking the Maple Leaf to Penn Station in New York City. Then it’s out to Nassau County via Long Island Railroad to our accomodations. And from Tuesday to Saturday it will be nothing but hoops! Quadrupleheaders at the Garden for three days straight on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with the semifinal doubleheader on Friday night and the Championship game on Saturday evening. Then it’s back to Buffalo via Amtrak on Sunday.

For a look at the Big East Conference tournament bracket click here.

Other items of note:

Our road trip warrior friend Gary Herman(half of the GATK duo) of New York has found a little time between work and going to 400 sporting events in a year to put together his own sports travel blog. Check it out here! Yep, there are people nuttier than we are.

LOCKPORT -- Two police officers drove to Indiana last week and returned with a criminal suspect who says he plans to marry a city police captain's niece.