Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In a recent interview with WBEN, developer Douglas Jemal expressed some frustrations he's had with local officials at the city and state level, which has led to a sell-off of some assets in Buffalo.
Jemal told WBEN he felt Buffalo "doesn't function as a city," and feels he hasn't gotten the support from officials like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan. He even goes as far to say that Ryan, "should view me as his savior, not his enemy."
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While South District Councilman and former Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon is not sure where the frustrations with working with the City of Buffalo stem from, he says he's only noticed a tremendous amount of cooperation from City Hall with Jemal and his partners and his team over the years.
"I think Mr. Jemal should be viewed as a partner," said Scanlon in an interview with WBEN. "One thing I have always talked about during my time in government is partnerships and collaboration, and he should be certainly viewed as a partner. Someone, who working with the City of Buffalo, can help contribute to Downtown Buffalo's vitality. There's certainly things that Mr. Jemal has accomplished here in Buffalo, in particular downtown, that are beneficial to the City of Buffalo."
Meanwhile, Fillmore District Councilman Mitch Nowakowski was not only taken aback by Jemal's comments, but frustrated by what he heard.
"The City of Buffalo doesn't need a savior. We'll save ourselves. And it's by all of us coming together and working through our issues," said Nowakowski with WBEN.
Nowakowski expressed his frustrations with how some developers, like Jemal, have a significant development portfolio but are quick to blame government when projects don't get up and running.
"That's not true. That's categorically false," Nowakowski said. "When it comes to saying, 'Help me,' I've been on this Council when it feels like Byron Brown gave the keys to Douglas Jemal, and [he] acquired city parcels, acquired a city parking lot, was given a lot of opportunities to partner on these things to get it done. But ultimately, the city and the state can't be held hostage to say, 'Give me millions of dollars to make these numbers work.'"
Nowakowski points to a number of economic factors like density, bank rates, people lending, cranes in the air, labor force, new social norms and consumerism that come into play with why certain projects are being developed.
"I think just because you're feeling disgruntled about that, you don't just blame local governments because we're an easy can to kick. I think that's unfair," Nowakowski added. "I think that any parcel that he has in my district, let alone the City of Buffalo, I would love to partner to get things done. When I look at Misuta Chow's, there is no tenant in there. It's vacant. We can't have vacancy and abandonment in these structures."
When it comes to the sell-off of properties in Buffalo, Nowakowski believes that been on his own accord, just because of what his holdings are nationally.
"Sell off your assets, it's too hard to develop and get any lending if someone's not giving you a golden parachute of money, and then just selling them all off. And then really miscategorizing the role of local municipalities and how we've operated since," Nowakowski noted.
Nowakowski adds if certain properties are up for market in the city, he would love for people to step up and purchase them.
"And then I'll meet anytime, anyplace, anywhere, with anyone that wants adaptively reuse vacant and abandoned structures," he said.
"When it comes to the city's role, we've always been open arms to figure out what we could do. And I think we gave him almost a little bit too much of the city's inventory, where we haven't seen anything turn around."
One comment from Jemal that both Scanlon and Nowakowski are in alignment with Jemal on is the development of Downtown Buffalo. Jemal feels the city needs to take a more aggressive approach when it comes to downtown and the entire city.
"You need to develop into the downtown, not develop out of it," Jemal said. "The status quo is not working."
Whether it's Jemal or any other development partners the city deals with, Scanlon knows it comes down to working together to make sure the city is activating the downtown core.
"Whether it's converting office space, which is not being used at the level that it was pre-COVID, to convert that into living spaces to get people down there, and then build the amenities around the people who will need it. Especially in activating and making it fun, giving people a reason to be downtown," Scanlon said. "I'll continue working with my colleagues here on the Council, with the administration and any other partners out there - private, public, nonprofit - who want to make that happen"
Nowakowski knows very well that any success with developing Buffalo starts with the downtown core and then building out to other neighborhoods.
"If we have a strong urban core, then that success shoots out to the commercial side streets of Sycamore, Genesee, Clinton Street," Nowakowski said. "I think when it comes down to downtown development, there's a lot of landlords down there that are trying to figure out how to do that. Do you convert vacant office space and put a ton of residents in it so then it leads to a demand in amenities, and then more businesses are more likely to invest in there, because they have a greater pool of people that live around it to support their businesses? I know that's my focus, I know that's Mayor Sean Ryan's focus in having a strong urban core.
"We have to support downtown, and we have to support our neighborhoods, because both are mutually exclusive to each other's successes and then the overall health of the city."