Letters To Artvoice

ON THE ELMWOOD VILLAGE HOTEL

After having owned and lived at 605 Forest, directly abutting the new proposed hotel, for more than 30 years and having sold my property and moved to get away from the constant inconsideration of Mr. Hans Mobius, I am torn over this hotel project. On the surface, any change would help make those properties owned by Mr. Mobius better. However, if I still lived there I would be sick and outraged. The quality of life and property value issues of the surrounding neighbors have to be taken seriously.

These neighbors have put up with the slum landlord conditions of Mr. Mobius’ property for a very long time, complaints to city officials regarding his neglect have gone unheard and nothing has gotten better over the years—it has only gotten worse. Now, for Mr. Mobius to be, as an attendee of the community meeting put it, “rewarded” for his neglect is sickening. He gets to unload his dumpy property that he made that way and will most likely profit greatly from it while the neighbors will have new worries about privacy, noise, parking, etc. Although this is not the concern of the developers, it is a concern of those who have had to put up with these conditions for so long with no response from city officials. This whole project would be a lot easier to swallow if this piece were addressed, not by the developers but by our city officials.

Perhaps Mr. Mobius could pay a hefty fine for his numerous code violations, which would go directly towards decreasing the negative impact on quality-of-life issues raised by neighbors. He owes this to the community.

Christine Rine

Buffalo

I read with great interest your article regarding Mr. Savarino’s proposal for a boutique hotel. However, I’d like to call your attention to Mr. Savarino’s first Elmwood attempt—a combined office building, apartments and steakhouse in the old telephone company building on Elmwood between Allen and North Streets.

He has since taken down that part of his sign regarding his building conversion, along with his plywood mayoral signs, but left intact his derelict conditions and grafitti.

While I can’t comment on the wisdom of a hotel at Elmwood and Forest, I can on the Elmwood hotels in the Allentown area, i.e. the Buckingham—public housing; the Stuyvesant—public housing; the Lenox—chancy.

Giving Mr Savarino the benefit of the doubt, I just wish he’d do something with his first Elmwood Avenue adventure before abandoning it and attempting a second.

William Gallivan

Buffalo

For 14 years I have owned the business Don Apparel, which occupies one of the properties owned by Hans Mobius that makes up the parcel in the proposed plans. I was a member of the board of Forever Elmwood for six years and was chair of the Beautification Committee. During that time I created the three public gardens at North and Elmwood and at Bidwell and Elmwood, which I continue to maintain to this day. I developed the hanging flower basket program and was part of the unending cleanup of the streets. During that time, I handled holiday marketing and activities and participated in the creation of the Forever Elmwood brochure. I was also a member of the Forever Elmwood Design Committee.

All of this puts me in a unique position to comment on what I feel is in the best interest of the community. My comments are as follows:

1. This discussion would not even be happening if the landlord, Hans Mobius, took even minimal care of his properties. I appeal to the city not to reward his negligence by endorsing the proposed plans for a hotel at this site. These properties would not even be considered for development if he were made to comply with minimum standards, mostly cosmetic, to maintain an acceptable aesthetic for this up and coming neighborhood. What kind of message will it send to other slumlords if the city is willing to rezone or grant variances to allow this project?

2. This block, the closest commercial block to Buffalo State College, serves the needs of the student population. The small businesses that stand to be dislocated are the kinds of shops that the student population frequents because they are affordable. The student population will not be able to afford the upscale shops that will no doubt occupy the retail space offered on the ground floor of the proposed hotel. This is gentrification at its finest. The properties that Hans Mobius own are rented at cheap rates, which attracts a certain clientele. It attracts a counterculture. It could be a marketing tool to attract a student population. The biggest problem is that Mobius has deliberately neglected the properties to enhance the perception that the best thing to do is to demolish these five wood-framed houses, which could be quite attractive.

3. There is a famous tenet of gardening that one should “consult the genius of the place” when considering design. I think this is apt for all design, including architecture. This corner, as it stands, is distinct in that all buildings are set back such that it provides a wide-open view to the street. As a gateway, its openness is an invitation to enter. It is green. It has a natural elevation, a hill, a beacon that commands attention in the subtlest of ways. Although it is privately owned, it is perceived as public domain, which will be taken away by this proposed development.

The site is rich in its history, heritage and associations. This hill was not leveled, when all to the north was, for the Pan Am Exposition. This site is surrounded by grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, directly across the street at the psychiatric center and just blocks from Delaware Park and the parkways. Olmsted himself sought to elevate an unassuming patch of turf into an “institution of democracy.” Landscape architect Frank Scott, from the period building up to the Pan Am, says, “To narrow our own or our own neighbor’s views of the free graces of Nature was selfish and undemocratic.”

4. While a hotel for the Elmwood Village is desirable, the proposed design is not in character with or appropriate for this corner, the gateway to the Elmwood commercial corridor. The design for the hotel will eliminate this open entry and greet the public as a wall of brick. Though the shadow cast by the five-story hotel is not as bad as the high-rise at West Utica and Elmwood, it does revisit this mistake. In contrast, the greenspace at the corner of Elmwood and Forest is a perfect segue from the park and parkway into the commercial district that gently ushers visitors into the Elmwood Village.

I urge the city to “consult the genius of the place” that already exists. Discern the genius of our own little corner and begin to devise a style that will suit it. There is much that might be done to develop the greenspace that could be interesting and attractive. Terraces, possibly two or three tiers, with paving stone, plantings, street furniture and lighting for nighttime ambience are just a few possibilities.

5. There exists an example of what could be done to the buildings. The impressive and successful renovation and re-design of the existing buildings at the corner of Auburn and Elmwood serves as the perfect example of what might be done with the buildings, if the city could direct redevelopment toward that model. No RFP for plans was ever issued. Forever Elmwood jumped at this just-not-good-enough-plan for this sensitive and signature corner. The plans are being rushed through the process with insufficient time to vet to the public.

If Mobius wants his million-plus dollars for this prime location, has the college or university been approached or other developers who might consider rehabbing the existing buildings as affordable starter locations for young graduates, entrepreneurs who might be allowed to rent for two or three years before moving on, if successful, to other locations? It could be run like a lottery. Money might be found to develop the greenspace as public domain. Hans Mobius might earn his asking price if the city or Forever Elmwood did some creative search for partners, treating the parcel as two parts, buildings and greenspace.

6. Instead of attracting national chains to the Elmwood Village, and in light of what all too often happens (Pier 1 vacating, Radio Shack folding, etc.), I would rather see Forever Elmwood, the city and financial incentive institutions develop strategies for business and building development on a scale that the community needs. Buffalo has many creative entrepreneurs who could be encouraged to create businesses and set up shop in a development that houses a series of smaller shops that meet the needs of the students and the community, and that would retain the quaintness that the Mobius properties could have.

7. While a hotel might be a great idea for the Elmwood Village, this corner must be treated with the respect it deserves. Has Forever Elmwood looked at other locations for a hotel? Have they explored other plans on a more fitting scale? I know they have not. The fact that one of their own, architect Karl Frizlen, has presented the plan, that no one on the Forever Elmwood board included the community until there was a week before it was to come before the Planning Board and Common Council for comment, when it had been in the works for at least a year, is a conflict, if not an absolute breach of the public trust they have worked hard to garner.

All options have not been explored. I hope this opens a dialogue as to what can be done with the Mobius properties. Certainly a property owner is allowed to sell, but to commit to such a contentious plan on such a sensitive corner is, I think, a death knell for Forever Elmwood, in that they helped to conceal the plan until the Buffalo News broke the story. The public feels strongly about this corner, as exhibited by the reaction to the Walgreen’s proposal and now the hotel, as became evident at the public viewing at the Burchfield, despite the bias that some of the media has demonstrated in whom they have chosen to interview.

At the public informational meeting on February 21 at the Burchfield, Eva Hasset, vice president for strategic initiatives for developer Savarino, announced that they were not seeking rezoning for this project “at this time.” It was announced that the plans were on the calendar for Tuesday, February 28 at 8am at the Planning Board, and a 2pm hearing the same day in the Common Council. With only a week’s notice, the plan was to have been voted on. It did involve a request to rezone the parcel, and further it was not even the plan that was revealed in the News or at the public meeting at the Burchfield.

I was told that the developer is seeking a rezoning of this parcel to C-2 within the Elmwood Special Zoning District. This would strip away the zoning protections that the Elmwood Village has enjoyed for many years, returning it to the days when anyone could build virtually anything in our precious community.

This is a bad precedent. I defy the architect to explain what he means when he asserts that it blends in with the character of the neighborhood. I’d be curious to see what the other Wyndham Hotel designs are like; is this a cookie-cutter design with frosting on top? I wish for something better for this corner, and I hope the best possible plan can come forth from discussions over time with the community and all the players.

Nancy Pollina

Buffalo