Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Nearly four months after Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon first announced plans to take ownership of the Buffalo Grand Hotel, the city is officially moving forward with legal action under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) Article 19-B to seize the hotel in Downtown Buffalo.
According to Scanlon, the next step will see the city file a Notice of Intent to commence an abandonment proceeding, likely within the next two weeks. At that point, there is an additional time period that is required for the city to provide notice, which is about 45 days. After the 45 days, the city can then go to State Supreme Court and commence a proceeding through a petition.
"The Buffalo Grand Hotel is, quite possibly, the most important hotel in downtown and the region, quite frankly. It has been vacant since late 2021," said Scanlon on Thursday at Buffalo City Hall. "In June, I announced that the City of Buffalo would invoke Article 19B of New York's Real Property Actions and Proceedings law to certify the Buffalo Grand Hotel as abandoned, and begin steps to obtain the building, a clean title to the property. That is not a step that I took very lightly, but after years-and-years of broken promises and inaction, blight, unsafe conditions and abuse of city resources, it became necessary."
Since the June announcement, the city has served notice and provided the statutory 30-day cure window to building owner Harry Stinson. Scanlon says the city's Department of Permits and Inspection Services and other departments have been open to negotiations with Stinson, but have not received compliance with life, safety and New York State fire and building codes.
"We have continued to have conversations with the owner and his representatives, but to date, no credible plan or permit application has ever been submitted to the City of Buffalo, and the building is still not code compliant and not safe for occupants," he noted. "In addition, this building sits at the gateway of Downtown Buffalo, and we cannot allow its current condition to be the first thing people see when entering our city's core. Enough time has passed, and zero progress has been made."
The city says as of Oct. 16, the Buffalo Grand Hotel has 18 documented housing court violations, and owes the city of taxpayers nearly $357,000, which include unpaid taxes, sewer charges, water bills and adjudication fees. In addition, there have been 66 9-1-1 calls to the Buffalo Grand Hotel, 46 directed police patrols to that property - 34 of those calls related to trespassing - underscoring the ongoing safety and security issues at that vacant property.
"The property still sits there languishing in disrepair, in blight, unsafe conditions, and that's the problem," Scanlon said. "At the end of the day, if the owner would have come in and rectified these housing code violations and worked with the city, which we were willing to and have been willing to do, this wouldn't be an issue. You can't file abandonment proceedings against the property that's not abandoned. But it's very clear, prior to the June announcement and since the June announcement, that there's no plan whatsoever to rectify the issues at that property."
In conversations with WBEN, Stinson has said he could have had the hotel back open within 60 days if the city would give him the green light to commence work to prepare the hotel. Scanlon says those have been broken promise after broken promise.
"It's just not acceptable," he said. "He received a $25 million insurance payout, he owns the building free and clear. He should be able to go out and find some financing to rectify the problems at that building and put that building back online. It's nearly 500 hotel rooms that the City of Buffalo can utilize. And I saw a story come out today where he claims he's going to aggressively fight the City of Buffalo on this. What I wish he would do is go over the property and aggressively clean it up."
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