Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After more than an hour of deliberation between the Campaign for Greater Buffalo and the City of Buffalo and ADM Milling Co., the future of the Great Northern grain elevator is now in the hands of a mediator to help both sides come to a resolution.
That was the decision that Justice Emilio Colaiacovo handed down during a court hearing on Monday, as efforts continue from both sides to either restore and preserve the historic structure, or carry out an emergency demolition of the building after a windstorm on Dec. 11 caused significant damage to the grain elevator's north wall.
However, if there is no resolution that comes after a week of mediation, it will then be the court that makes a final decision on the future of the 1897 grain elevator.
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While a decision to avoid an emergency demolition of the structure did not come to fruition, the decision to take this matter to mediation is seen as a win, in a way, for the side favoring preservation of the Great Northern grain elevator.
"I think it's a step in the right direction," said developer Douglas Jemal from Douglas Development in a WBEN interview Monday. "Bring the parties together to save the Great Northern grain elevator, of course it should be saved and preserved."
Like Jemal, developer Rocco Termini from Signature Development also believes that the decision to move to mediation is a move in the right direction.
"I think it's imperative that this building be saved, considering that ADM made $4 billion last year," Termini said. "I think they can afford to restore it to what it once was."
"I think with the use of both historic and federal tax credits, Brownfield tax credits, and making a donation, whatever the cost is, I think ADM can recover that 100% within the next 2-3 years."
"Every day is a victory," said Director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, Tim Tielman after Monday's court hearing. "There was a demolition order put out on Dec. 17, and we are working very, very hard during the holidays. You can imagine our opponent, ADM, they came to our city last year asking for an emergency demo before this even happened. They have then been working since last year assembling all these engineering reports and everything to make an argument for an emergency demo. And, 'Oh my gosh, Jehovah delivered a windstorm and blew a hole in the wall.' But, 'Wow! Let's get that emergency demo order.'
"They bought the building after it had been designated a landmark. They are the ones who have been negligent in not maintaining the building. Their engineering reports list their negligence. It's a catalog of their negligence. Now they're saying, 'You know what, yes, all this time for 30 years - No. 1, we haven't been following City of Buffalo laws,' and by their own admission, they're endangering people from flying metal, they're endangering people from brick walls, and they haven't done anything for 30 years. That, to me, is an outlaw corporation that's flouting the health, wellfare and safety of Buffalonians."
The Great Northern grain elevator has a significant history in terms of Buffalo's prevalence in the shipping industry back in the day. This includes the establishment of grain elevators to help store the grain when goods were transported all-across the Great Lakes.
In its 124-year history, the Great Northern grain elevator has had one other instance of structural damage, and it also happened to come via a windstorm back in 1907. After just 10 years of being built, the structure sustained similar damage to one of its outer walls. However, it was quickly repaired, and had not had a similar incident occur until the recent windstorm over two weeks ago.
The parties pushing for the preservation of the historic grain elevator are all in agreeance that the structure did not need to get to this point where it was only a matter of time before it was bound to be damaged once again.
"The arguments about bricks falling, mortar out, well guess what, that happens if you don't follow a maintenance schedule" Tielman said. "A regular maintenance schedule that any owner of a large building responsibly undertakes, not only so their asset doesn't fall down but to protect the public, that's standard operating procedure. I have to fix my house if there's a problem. A shingle falls off, I have to fix the roof. They have metal panels flying off, which they're not addressing."
"That building has stood for 130 years. Just because you have a problem after 130 years, maybe it will be another 130 years once the proper changes are made to it," Termini said of the matter. "Let's be honest with one another, they've had that building for 40 years and have done no maintenance on it whatsoever. The main purpose was not to do any maintenance on the building so that when a strong wind came, it would damage the building and they would get permission to tear it down.
"They've been trying to tear this building down for the last 20 years, and every time they've tried they've been rebuffed. ... The only thing is people in Buffalo today are a lot more cognizant of historic buildings, and the likelihood of you being able to tear down a historic building today is a lot less than what it was 10-15 years ago."
The stance of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo is the Great Northern is a City of Buffalo landmark, it's nationally registered property, and it's the sole remaining working house brick box elevator.
So if the building can be saved from demolition as a result of mediation, what measures can be taken in the short-term to make sure the structure is not seen as a public safety hazard?
"I think they can take some measures immediately to minimize any potential harm to anything by putting a screen around the building," Termini said. "Then they can really wait months before anything gets done. They can wait until the spring to really work on the building, because if anything does fall off the building, it would be caught by the screen that's around the building."
There have been talks for potential plans in the works for the future of the grain elevator if it is saved from demolition. Once the necessary repairs to the building are made and if a potential buyer comes in to purchase the building from ADM, then the wheels can start to go in motion to transform the historic structure.
What kind of challenges could a developer face when attempting to transform a structure of such a large scale into a potential hub for businesses or living space for people of the community?
"[It] really depends on what you want to turn into at the end of the day," Jemal said. "Construction doesn't happen in one day. You start a project, it takes you six months to design it, it takes another four months to get a permit for it, and it takes you a year-and-a-half to build it. That's construction. Whether it's refurbishing something or anything, that's the nature of that business."
"Every historic building has its challenges," Termini said. "You really don't know what you can do with it yet unless you sit down with the parks service and negotiate with them, and see how far they're willing to let you make changes to the building so that you could continue to get tax credits. They have their limitations, and once that is done and you know how far you can go at making holes in the building, putting windows in there, then you can make a determination of what you want to do to re-use the building.
"Is it going to be a challenge? Sure it is. Nothing good is easy. So I think it's going to take a while to come up with a plan. But let me say this: They had a major fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, and they were able to save that. I think what's been done to this grain [elevator] is small compared to what was done at the Notre Dame cathedral. If that can be saved, this can be saved."
While a resolution to the future of the Great Northern could be hammered out over the coming days, there is only one message that matters to developers like Termini and Jemal: Save the building.
"The building needs to be preserved as part of Buffalo's history," Jemal said. "Too much of Buffalo's history went down the garbage can. It took, at least, [3-5 years] to build that building, a wrecking ball will take that building down in a day. Look at the damage you've done. Save the building. It's a great asset to that city."