BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - City of Buffalo leaders on Wednesday celebrated the planned demolition of the former King Sewing Machine Plant in the Riverside neighborhood.
The five-story plant, located at 308 Crowley Avenue, has sat vacant for decades. It was originally built in 1910 for the King Sewing Machine Company and later transitioned into King Quality Products and King Manufacturing Company, where radios were sold through Sears, according to the city. The plant was later taken over in 1929 by Colonial Radio Company and made hundreds of thousands of radio per year. At one time, more than 1,000 people were employed there.
Over the years, there building slowly deteriorated. In 2018, the city purchased the property for $50,000 through the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation.
"The site has a very promising future," Mayor Byron Brown said. "While no final use has been determined, its location next door to the thriving Enterprise Folding Box Company and adjacent to the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority Shaffer Village...this property will soon undergo a major redevelopment and it will become a community asset."
Two separate planning teams are discussing how the site can be reused.
Buffalo Common Councilman Joe Golombek spent years advocating for the property to be fixed.
"If you go down Crowley, you'll see huge gaping holes in this structure where kids and hoboes are getting into," Golombek said. "There's all sorts of problems there and I'm afraid one of my kids or one of my firefighters are going to get hurt there."
While demolition will start as early as July, some elements of the property will remain. It includes the tower on Crowley, the smoke stack in the center of the property, and a clock that was deemed to be historic.
The city will spend anywhere from $500,000 to $700,000 to demolish the site.
