Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - If everything lines up just right - and that remains a big if - Ellicott Development Co. may be interested in buying the vacant Buffalo Grand Hotel.
"Am I interested? Yes," said William Paladino, Ellicott CEO. "People from the city and county have talked to me and I said I am interested."
But, the fate of the long vacant, 489-room hotel remains very much in flux.
Two weeks ago, the City of Buffalo filed abandonment proceedings in State Supreme Court against the hotel and its owner, Canadian businessman Harry Stinson. No court date has been set.
Should the court side with Buffalo, the city will likely issue an RFP to the development and hospitality industry to gain bids for the Buffalo Grand.
Scanlon, who is leaving the mayor's office on Dec. 31 and returning to the Buffalo Common Council as South District Councilman, said he wants a resolution sooner rather than later.
Stinson has until mid-January to file a legal response and he said one is forthcoming. Stinson has pledged to wage a vigorous battle to keep ownership of the Buffalo Grand.
Stinson has asked Buffalo Mayor-elect Sean Ryan to delay any legal actions for 180 days, but, thus far Ryan and his development team have made no commitment.
Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon, in late June, said he was going to start abandonment proceedings because he felt Stinson was not doing to re-open the hotel. Stinson denied such allegations.
"If any building represents being abandoned, it is the Buffalo Grand," Scanlon said.
Stinson bought the Buffalo Grand - formerly the Adam's Mark Hotel and before that the Buffalo Hilton - in 2017. The developer made some improvements and upgrades to the hotel, but it has remained closed since the early Covid-19 pandemic days in March 2020.
As it was preparing to re-open, a fire gutted significant portions of the building, causing more than $50 million in damages. It took Stinson until mid-2023 to resolve the issue with his insurance carrier.
Meanwhile, the loss of the hotel's 489-rooms has been devastating to Buffalo's convention, meeting and special events industry. Visit Buffalo said it is constantly losing potential bookings because of the lack of rooms in the downtown Buffalo core.
"I know it is an issue," Paladino said.
Because of its location just off of the I-190 entrance into downtown Buffalo, the hotel has a gateway status - something that Scanlon said is also a big issue.
"For some, their first impression of Buffalo is this boarded up building," Scanlon said.
To re-open the Buffalo Grand, some have pegged the renovation costs at more than $20 million. Paladino said he is aware of those costs.
If Ellicott Development does end up with the Buffalo Grand, it will join a portfolio that includes hotels in Niagara Falls, West Seneca, downtown Buffalo and Ellicottville.