Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled back on July 5 to lift a preliminary injunction that blocked the emergency demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator on Ganson Street in Buffalo's "Old First Ward".
That decision meant that as of Friday, Aug. 12, the temporary restraining order that was in place against the building's owner, Archer-Daniels-Midland, to demolish the building would be vacated.
Over the past several weeks, it appears ADM Milling Co. has started to move in equipment that could signal the start of demolition efforts once the injunction has been lifted. At this time, contractors have only ripped down the railroad shed that was adjacent to Ganson Street on the East wall of the building.
All of this started back on Dec. 11, 2021 when a powerful windstorm came through Buffalo and opened a large hole in the North wall of the 1897 structure. After a number of separate court hearings at the state court level, it all led to the July 5 ruling by Justice Emilio Colaiacovo siding with the City of Buffalo's ruling to order the emergency demolition requested by ADM Milling Co.
Now, it is the hope for preservationists like those with the Campaign for Greater Buffalo to find a way to continue the fight to save the historic grain elevator.
"There's a lot of legalisms going on that, hopefully, if the local judge is unconvinced of the ability of the Great Northern to stand for another 125 years, the appeals court and Rochester will find, in fact, that the evidence suggests, as well as that the elevators standing there today [eight] months after a section of the North wall came down, that the building itself isn't in jeopardy," said Director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, Tim Tielman.
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But how much more of a legal case does Tielman and the Campaign for Greater Buffalo have given the outcomes of their case in New York State Supreme Court? According to former State Supreme Court judge Penny Wolfgang, Friday may be a last-ditch effort to continue those efforts.
"All of this is sort of like a 'legal Hail Mary', is what he's asking for," said Wolfgang.
"Obviously either party has the right to make any motions that they feel is legal within their rights, but I assume that the motion would have to be based on some new evidence, some new facts, some reason why the judge would change his mind or overrule the decision. Obviously, it's within the discretion of the judge, and if he hears it, he'll hear the opposing side, who will obviously oppose the motion. And I don't know what new evidence or what grounds, he has to have some grounds, so we'll have to find out. The question is, what grounds is he going to request a reconsideration?"
Given the hole in the North wall of the grain elevator, Tielman says they have been able to do some additional assessments of the structural integrity of the structure with the help of documentation and analysis of the Great Northern from the Library of Congress and Historic American Engineering Record. In addition, with the help of historic photographs of the construction of the grain elevator, the Campaign hasn't been able to detect any changes since the Dec. 11 windstorm. That evidence has given Tielman an extra sense of confidence that they can get the case re-opened, thus getting another injunction to block demolition.
"The steel bins of that elevator, the steel frame are in excellent condition. They are performing today, 125 years after construction, as they were designed to do," Tielman said. "They are holding this building up, it's built like a tank, and it is not coming down."
While Tielman and the Campaign will likely present new evidence to Justice Colaiacovo in an effort to reconsider any sort of demolition, Wolfgang says Colaiacovo does not have to, in any way, re-open the case.
"[Tielman] first has to convince the trial judge to re-open or to grant his motion to re-open, or to re-hear it or grant something, because it stands, as the ruling stands," Wolfgang explained. "What he's trying to do is see if the trial judge will re-open, will hear some new evidence, will grant him an opportunity for a new hearing. In order to do any of that, I would say under the law, he has to have some grounds, some new evidence, some reason why he feels that the decision should be different this time."
"If [Colaiacovo] doesn't grant this Hail Mary motion, then the law is what has already been determined, and they can proceed with the demolition whenever they choose to."
And if Colaiacovo does not elect to grant the motion for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, Wolfgang does not see many other options for preservationists. It may be a case of waiting for the ticking clock to countdown the days left for the Great Northern to stand.
"It seems like they've exhausted all of their remedies, as far as the state court goes after this, that I know of, and I think that they know of," Wolfgang said. "I don't know the answer to this, perhaps there's some [way] they could go to federal court about a denial of some kind of civil rights. Federal laws are different. ... Maybe the parties could come to an agreement to rebuild it, I'm sure they've thought of that already instead of tearing it down, to fix it, to remedy it. I don't know. It's way beyond anything I would know, and I'm sure they've tried."
Perhaps one saving grace for Tielman and the Campaign for Greater Buffalo would be the potential for New York State to purchase the grain elevator and restore the structure as part of an expanded State Park. Just a couple of days after Colaiacovo's ruling on the Great Northern, Tielman penned a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul urging the state to purchase the structure and save it that way.
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However, Tielman says he has yet to hear anything directly from New York State about that possibility.
"We know that some discussion occurred," he said. "You can imagine it's a bit of a complicated endeavor, figuring out how this is going to work. So we haven't heard anything back directly, but we're not discouraged."
Although things may look bleak for the future of the grain elevator, a number of people in local government, as well as the public have openly called for the Great Northern to be saved, given its historical status and the potential for future revitalization with the right developer working to restore the building.
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Tielman acknowledges how heartening it is to hear from a number of different people - both citizens and professional experts - who support their efforts to save the historic grain elevator.
But how much could a project of this nature cost given today's industry, as well as what it would take to cover up the hole, revitalize the outside and turn the structure into something much more than it is now? Tielman believes the hole to the North wall can be an easy fix - similar to the wall collapse of 1907 - but a true assessment of a cost will be difficult without being allowed inside to do a thorough estimate.
"We know ADM is one of the largest agricultural corporations on planet Earth. Believe me, they have money. But even if, for example, the public were to, in the body of the State government, buy this for a state park and then figure out a public-private partnership that allows the public access to it while private uses occur there," explained Tielman. "It has been estimated - developer Rocco Termini did a quick calculation - it is a local landmark, it is eligible for the national state registers, that means you can get tax credits. He said, 'Well, just for sake of argument, say it's going to cost $20 million to fix the entire envelope, fix the top, fix whatever may be necessary on the bottom and do some adaptive re-use, let's say $20 million.' Then you do the math with the various tax credits you can have over a span of years, and then finally at the end of the day, after you've taken all your tax credits, you can donate it to a nonprofit, such as the Campaign for Greater Buffalo - I'd be happy for us to take it over - or set up your own nonprofit or, of course, give it over to the state. At the end of the day, you recover 94% of the stabilization and renovation costs. That's a good deal."
More of our conversation with Tielman on the future of the Great Northern grain elevator is available in the player below: