In 1923, Lewis Historical Publishing released Municipality of Buffalo, New York A History 1720-1923. In a section about Joseph Ellicott, the man hired in 1797 by the Holland Land Company to survey Buffalo land, and the man who designed our radial street plan, we’re told that Ellicott believed Buffalo would “become the most important settlement in the area, and over time become even larger and more important than the village of Batavia.”

Ellicott was that special person who sees not what is, but what could be. Buffalo grew larger than the village of Batavia, and Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and every other city in the state except New York. But Buffalo seems to have forgotten how to be a city. The endless erosion of urban land for suburban-style surface parking; the massive car washes; the drug stores built 200 feet away from our sidewalks; the demolition of valuable city corners for multi-pump gas stations; widening lanes for traffic shooting out of town; narrow sidewalks for pedestrians; these are not the things Buffalo should continue doing if it wants to be successful again.

Things may be changing. The foremost things a city needs are population density and jobs, and the increased interest by local developers in rehabbing city buildings for loft apartments and condos is a good sign that we again believe in our city and don’t want to turn it into a giant, malformed copy of the suburbs. Not surprisingly, those rehab projects are all immensely successful.

The proposed Elmwood Village Hotel at the corner of Forest and Elmwood is another example of the kind of development we should encourage. In fact, in one of the Pan American Exposition guidebooks from 1901, when Buffalo was a player in the world spotlight, the original Statler Hotel is listed as being at Elmwood and Forest. A map from that era, tracked down by Buffalo’s favorite librarian, Cynthia Van Ness, indicates it was where the Mobil gas station now sits.

Successful hotels, just like fully occupied loft apartments and city condos, mean more people are on your city’s streets. The hotel proposed by Savarino Construction Services is, in my opinion, a brilliant idea. The easy walk to Buffalo State College, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society, Delaware Park, the H.H. Richardson complex, the Darwin-Martin House and the various shops and restaurants on Elmwood make it a far better location for a visitor to experience our city than any existinghotel in our market.

Click to watch

Savarino talks about his hotel plans

LOOK WHO’S SAYING YES

Louis Grachos, the executive director at the Albright-Knox, who filed a letter of support for the project, told Artvoice, “I think [the hotel] is really key. I can’t tell you how panicked we get when we have an opening and people from out of town start coming in. The Mansion gets filled immediately. The Hampton Inn is a great hotel, but after that it gets pretty lean. We almost had a disaster recently when one of our key supporters came in from New York and we needed to get her into a good hotel. For us, for the Burchfield, for the Historical Society, for Buff State, it’s going to be a much used hotel. We have to help things like that happen. We are ready to reserve some rooms right now.”

The word coming from Buffalo State College was much the same. Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College, wrote to Mayor Byron Brown on February 24, also strongly supporting the hotel. “First and foremost,” wrote Howard, “a facility of this kind offers a tremendous opportunity for partnering with the college’s Hospitality and Tourism Program.

“The hotel would also provide convenient lodging for guests of the college. The college annually attracts thousands of visitors often in search of a nearby place to stay. Our faculty, staff and students host visitors for a variety of programs, conferences and other special events. Events such as commencement attract an especially large number of visitors. In short, the proposed hotel would be welcomed by Buffalo State College and a wonderful introduction to Buffalo for all who stay as guests.”

There were additional letters from nearby churches and other institutions, all of which expressed that the hotel would be a well used and welcome alternative to lodging people farther downtown or, worse, out in Cheektowaga near the airport.

So while opponents of the project, who are few in number, have tried to raise fears that the hotel could fail and become a flophouse or social services way-station, it seems extremely unlikely that will happen.

Still, even if you accept the concept of a new hotel on the corner of Elmwood and Forest as viable, there are other questions to ask: What is it going to look like? What other impacts are there? What is the developer like?

Regarding questions about the developer, Savarino Construction, I would point to a conversation I had with Tim Tielman, who heads the Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture. Anyone familiar with Tim Tielman knows he’s the guy most likely to put himself between a building and wrecking ball if it means preserving something he feels is important to the region’s heritage. He has a reputation for being every developer’s worst nightmare and has relentlessly taken on Benderson, Rite-Aid and every other major builder in town.

“I support the hotel,” said Tielman. “We did have concerns about the project initially, and when we spoke to them they addressed our concerns on a number of issues—scale, mass, the color of the building. I met with Karl Frizlen, the architect, and Savarino and explained our concerns about the bulkiness of the building, sound, light, issues like that. And they did address them. So it’s not like we looked at it uncritically—it’s not like we just went ‘Yahoo, we’re getting a hotel.’

“This project expresses things we’ve been preaching. It exchanges retail for retail and it adds to the number of people occupying the block. Instead of residents they happen to be hotel guests, but it’s putting more people on the sidewalk, which we like.

“And demolishing those buildings Hans Mobius owns is different than the Atwater case,” Tielman added, referring to the fight he led against restaurateur Pano Giorgiadis’ plan to demolish the Atwater house, which is on the same block. “What makes the Atwater case different is that it’s the oldest house on the block, it’s rare, architecturally significant and compelling.”

Speaking of the Atwater, it’s worth noting that an online petition to stop the hotel project had only 72 signatures as of Wednesday, March 1. Compare that to the online petition against the demolition of the Atwater, which more than 6,000 people signed.

“But one of the things I like most about the proposed hotel project,” Tielman continued, “is the process that Savarino has engaged in. Having attended both the meeting for the prposed new Buff State Burchfield-Penney Art Center on Saturday and the one for the Elmwood Village Hotel on the following Tuesday, I can’t tell you how different these two meetings were. The difference was day and night.

“On Saturday, Buffalo State was arrogant; they didn’t want to entertain any idea that somehow their design wasn’t the best. Their attitude was that their architect is an Olympian figure and, heaven forbid, they didn’t want to change anything that this person very close to God had come up with. It was unimaginable to them.

“On the other hand, Savarino established that their meeting was to get information from the community; that they want to build a hotel and what do you people think? I was just amazed, and I told city officials who were there, I said, ‘Man, I just can’t believe the difference between these two meetings.’ And the Tuesday meeting with Savarino was much better attended and there were a lot of emotions. But things played out much better at the meeting for the hotel, and that had a lot to do with the receptivity of the developer to making changes.

“Any time a change is proposed it’s a tricky thing. But what Savarino showed and what Karl Fizlen, their architect, showed was that they would listen. You can’t ask for more than a sincere interest on the part of the developer to take concerns at face value and do what they can within their scope to make changes. And Savarino said, ‘Look, if it doesn’t work for the neighborhood then maybe we don’t do the project.’ That never passed the lips of anyone at Buff State. They made it clear they weren’t interested in any public comment whatsoever and they didn’t want to change their plans.”

The Elmwood Village Hotel design has tried to emulate elements of existing well known corner buildings in Buffalo, like these. Corner buildings in cities are traditionally more substantial and expensive than mid-block buildings and are usually made of brick or stone. They are highly visible and have retail on the ground floor and residential or offices above. They serve to anchor the entire block and are always built up to the sidewalk. In the early 1960s, the dreaded one-story, single-use buildings with big surface parking lots, like Rite-Aid, began appearing and many of our beautiful corner buildings were demolished.

THE ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN

Okay, so what is the hotel plan and what are the design guidelines that are being used? Forever Elmwood, the Elmwood area’s largest community group, spent several years developing a list of design guidelines that they felt should be followed by any building project on Elmwood Avenue. Of the many elements they settled on, Savarino Construction has met, as far as I can tell, all of them. They include some of the following:

Buildings should be mixed use. The hotel is mixed use. They should be more than a single story. The hotel is four stories.

There should be retail on the ground floor. The hotel has retail on the ground floor and its lobby entrance.

There should be complete transparency between the pedestrians on the street and the ground floor. The hotel has floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the entire ground floor.

Parking should be out of sight. The hotel has 39 underground parking spaces and 16 parking spaces in the rear of the building. Savarino is also negotiating with the neighboring music store, Home of the Hits, to possibly use the rear of that building for an additional 10 parking spaces.

The front door entrance to the building must open onto Elmwood Avenue. The entrance to the hotel is on Elmwood. The driveway that leads to the parking lot is on Forest, which has the benefit of removing four or five Elmwood Avenue driveways that are currently next to Hans Mobius’s buildings. That should mean a few additional spots for on-street parking.

New buildings should be built to the sidewalk and not be setbacks like Rite-Aid, Walgreens, etc. The hotel will be built to the sidewalk, making it much more pedestrian friendly.

Storefronts should be narrow shops on a pedestrian scale and not immense, big-box-style retail. The hotel plan subdivides the retail into small shops.

There should be a landscaping plan. Savarino’s plan calls for new tree wells on the street and potted plants. In addition, their plan will result in an 18-foot-wide sidewalk as opposed to the six-foot-wide sidewalk that exists now at that corner.

There should be adequate and attractive lighting. The building plan for the hotel has goose-neck lighting extending from the building, and since the hotel is a 24-hour operation, it will actually shed light on a sidewalk that is currently pretty much in darkness at night.

There are more details I could go into, but these are the most important. Because Savarino has adhered so closely to the Forever Elmwood design guidelines and has been continually responsive to suggestions for changes, that organization wrote a letter of support to the Buffalo Planning Board, while also asking a decision be tabled to give Savarino time to talk further to the community. (Disclosure: I am a Forever Elmwood board member.)

The letter is as follows:

Dear Planning Board Members:

Forever Elmwood would like to take this opportunity to state our support of the proposed hotel project by Savarino Construction for the corner of Forest and Elmwood Avenue.

Savarino Construction partook in a community meeting held by the City of Buffalo’s Good Neighbors’ Planning Alliance and Forever Elmwood on Tuesday, February 21st. The developer has been responsive to the comments made during this meeting and is now proposing a smaller building with an improved urban façade. Savarino Construction has made a genuine effort to consult with Forever Elmwood and has promised to further engage the community.

Forever Elmwood is pleased that the developer has followed our recommended Elmwood Village Design Guidelines. The height, façade, transparency, underground parking and setback elements are quality components of the type of development that Forever Elmwood supports along Elmwood Avenue. Forever Elmwood believes that this project will positively contribute to the built environment of the Elmwood Village.

Savarino Construction has meet with Forever Elmwood and has promised to further engage the surrounding block clubs in their development process. In order to allow the community adequate time to digest this proposal Forever Elmwood requests that the project be tabled at this time.

Forever Elmwood looks forward to working with Savarino Construction on this project in the future. Thank you for considering our request.

Sincerely,

Justin Azzarella

Executive Director

Forever Elmwood

Existing properties on Elmwood and Forest.

WHO IS OPPOSED AND WHY?

As with any project, particularly a large project that involves demolition, removing tenants and making dramatic changes to a neighborhood, not everyone is pleased at the prospect of the Elmwood Village Hotel being constructed on the corner of Elmwood and Forest. Many people who are not in favor of the project voiced their displeasure at the public meeting Savarino held on Tuesday, February 21.

Concerns and objections of every variety were raised: The five-story building is too big for this area. There won’t be enough parking. The people who live on Granger Street behind the hotel will have their sunlight blocked. The façade is ugly. There won’t be any affordable place for Buffalo State students to shop.

What’s going to happen to the current businesses? We don’t want to endure months of construction.

What if the hotel fails and we end up with a big empty building or a city center for homeless people?

One woman raised so many concerns—from an army of rats suddenly appearing to ghastly toxins that would be released during construction—one would have thought the Elmwood Village Hotel signaled the beginning of the apocalypse.

It’s interesting that the immediate response to the meeting’s tone among the city’s vigorous community of civic-minded emailers and contributors to Buffalo blogs—Buffalo Rising, for example, which hosted a lively debate on the project—was a collective groan. An email from Artvoice writer Andrew Kulyk, who covers the Sabres and Bisons, is typical of the almost universal sentiment expressed online:

“They had an informational meeting last night [about the hotel],” wrote Kulyk, “and the results were predictable. Every kook and obstructionist came out the woodwork to try and pummel their plans into the ground. It is so discouraging that every time something is put forward in Buffalo with any vision or flair to it, there is always that element trying to kill it. I could cite numerous examples but you know ’em as well as I do. I know I’m only the sports guy at Artvoice, but this story is generating a lot of discussion and I think the project has tremendous merit.”

The project does have merit. But Savarino, to his credit, said he called the February 21 meeting to listen and respond. The small businesses tenants in the buildings to be demolished had things to say. The residents who live on Granger Place, Penhurst Park and Lincoln Parkway needed to be heard, too.

For example, Larry Whistler, a Penhurst resident, wrote to Savarino Construction saying he believed the hotel was “a great idea.” But Whistler didn’t like that it was five stories. This was a big issue at the open meeting.

The important thing is whether the meeting was sincere or just a dog-and-pony show like the pretend public meetings the Public Bridge Authority people used to hold.

Well, the meeting was on February 21. On February 27 Sam Savarino, president of Savarino Construction, Eva Hassett, vice president of Savarino Construction, and architect Karl Frizlen brought new design changes to a Forever Elmwood board meeting. The façade of the building has been completely redone. The building is no longer five stories; it is now four, and instead of 80 rooms it will have 72 rooms.

The building design no longer exceeds the maximum allowable height for Elmwood Avenue. Because the developers are removing the hill the current properties sit on, the base of the hotel is five or six feet lower than the houses that surround it on Elmwood, Forest and Granger Place.

The rear of the hotel is more than 150 feet from the backs of the Granger Place houses, and at its new height no sunlight will be lost to those homes. Furthermore, the people on Granger should consider that the hotel will act as a noise buffer between their houses and the busy bars and restaurants on that block of Elmwood.

With regards to concerns that the plans contained insufficient parking—although they do meet code requirements—Savarino said that they would look for more off-site spaces, including the previously mentioned space behind the Home of the Hits, and explore valet parking as well. Savarino also pointed out the hotel won’t have the facilities for large conferences. “There will be no large conference room,” said Savarino, “so we’re not going to see 200 cars filled with people wearing name badges and looking for a place to park. This is a boutique hotel.”

While Savarino has promised to continue meeting with the neighborhood, there isn’t much that can be done for the current businesses that are there—a tattoo shop, a video store, a vintage clothing shop and two others. The owner of one of the affected businesses told me, “I knew sooner or later Mobius was going to sell and I’d have to move. But, you know, I’m still not happy about it. You kind of believe it’s never going to happen. After all, he’s had the property up for sale for 11 years. I know I’m going to die someday, too, but I don’t believe that either. It just sucks because I don’t where I’m going to find space this cheap, except in some neighborhood I don’t want to be in. And the thing is, people really like this store.”

Naturally, none of the businesses renting from Mobius have a lease, since he was always planning to dump the property. And also the low rents helped him to justify his refusal to investing in any maintenance or improvements.

Proposed Elmwood Village Hotel. Changes are still in progress.

WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE HERE?

This is a $10 million private investment with no public money being asked for. The hotel has an anticipated $2.5 million annual benefit to the neighborhood. The assessed property value for this hotel will be significantly higher than the current property assessment, and that will increase tax revenue to the city.

The hotel’s rates will be competitive with those of the Hampton Inn and the guests will likely spend many dollars around the neighborhood. “We want people to go out of their rooms and into the neighborhood,” said Savarino. “We are going to have a small bistro but it’s not something that is going to keep guests in the hotel. If they want breakfast, they’ll walk down the street to Pano’s. If they want a cold beer, they’ll cross the street to Coles or some other nearby place.”

When will Savarino decide whether his project has enough community support? When will those issuing permits decide the project is a go? “I don’t know,” said Savarino. “We’re trying to talk to as many people, merchants and neighborhood groups and officials as we can. We know we can never make every single person happy but we’re going to try to work with as many people as possible.”

There are still several entities that need to weigh in on the project, including the Common Council, the Department of Public Works, possibly the zoning board and the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. Although he is not required to, Savarino is going to take his project to the Preservation Board as well.

Savarino Construction’s Eva Hassett has talked and met with councilmembers Fontana, Golombek and others; she’s met with Bill Grillo from the Office of Strategic Planning, neighbors, merchants and just about anyone willing to talk. On Wednesday, March 1, Karl Frizlen sent the following to Councilman Joe Golombek:

Dear Joe:

You are a very progressive and pro-active force in the Elmwood Community and the City in general. You have been in strong support of urban design principles and you fully understand the impact on the vitality to the street and its commercial success. The hotel incorporates all or at least most of the urban principles which makes the rebirth of cities so successful such as: increased density, mixed-use, bringing the building to the sidewalk, putting parking underneath or behind the building, creating a transparent storefront and enhancing the pedestrian environment.

The building might have some shortcomings and they can be corrected and discussed but the principles are in place and they need to be reinforced. For your information, I’ve been talking to Hans Mobius for 3 years and I introduced 4 other developers to the development proposal and after initial strong interest, they all went away.

Sam Savarino is the only one standing who takes it to a point where it can be very good for the community. Talking out of my own experience, there are very few developers who understand and tackle urban mixed-use projects because of its complexity and financing challenges. This is the biggest development deal happening in the Elmwood area for the last 30 years. It’s a turning point and defining moment. We are not in control of the timeline, Mobius is. This community has to make up their minds pretty quick, but it’s not like it happened overnight. Forever Elmwood is educating about good urban principles for many years, with your support. This is where the rubber hits the road. Please consider.

Karl Frizlen, AIA

THE FRIZLEN GROUP, ARCHITECTS

Sooner or later Hans Mobius is going to sell those properties; it’s an absolute inevitability. I won’t mention any names, but I can think of several developers or Elmwood landowners I would not like to see purchase that corner. I don’t think we will find a more responsive developer than Savarino, and we shouldn’t risk behaving like the old bachelor who kept thinking someone prettier or sexier or richer was going to come along.

There will be a meeting in the common council chambers on March 7th at 2pm on the rezoning for this project.