AV Video: CPO Club
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by Matt Quinn
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The CPO Club Needs Saving From Demolition and Itself
Artvoice Video: The CPO Club
Click to return to Peter Koch's article on the CPO Club
Reader Comments
LAURA
25 Apr 2008, 12:18
Isn't there something else in buffalo that should be torn down? Like maybe
a"few" vacant homes?
tina crapsi
25 Apr 2008, 14:37
it would be a very counterproductive act, to see a building on the
waterfront get demolished, when we all indeed are excited for the
long-awaited growth on the waterfront. it's a shame that the proprietors
let it become in such shambles, but there is funding out there somewhere.
emerald budd
28 Apr 2008, 10:58
keep this as a place for the NONBLUE BLOODS OF BUFFALO. The yacht club
wants this to be a parking lot, beccuae the govt will not need it most of
the time. they hate having blue collars so close to them.
Mike
28 Apr 2008, 11:02
A parking lot?? Who would that benefit - the members of the next door
Buffalo Yacht Club? Surely some responsible restaurant operator can be
found to take this place over. For a city with miles and miles of
waterfront we have so few accessible places like this.
Christina
29 Apr 2008, 11:24
As a former member of the Buffalo Yacht Club, I have to say that the BYC
has nothing to do with what is going on with the CPO Club. The members of
the BYC have no problem with 'blue collars so close to them", in fact the
BYC is affectionately known as the Poor Man's Yacht Club. They are not
elitists and those of you who are making unfounded accusations should be
ashamed of yourselves. You are stereotyping them, because you think they
stereotype you and you are wrong!
The CPO Club has no one to blame but themselves for letting the building
get to the state that it is in. For all of you that are up in arms over
them losing their lease, are you ready to open up your wallets to fund the
upgrades and repairs? Better yet, do you really want your tax dollars
spent to upgrade a building for a private company? I know I don't.
As for another restaurant opening up in the building because it is on the
waterfront - won't happen. It is my understanding that the Navy controls
all the land around the building, that means the lease is ONLY for the
building itself. There is no waterfront access to the restaurant because
the Navy has their ships tied up there and there is no dedicated parking
lot either because again, it belongs to the Navy. Who in their right mind
would lease a building that needs $1.5 million in repairs, has no
waterfront rights and no parking?
Even if the building gets saved because of historic value - so what? The
DNMA is under no obligation to extend another lease to the CPO Club so what
would we end up with? Another vacant, decrepit building in Buffalo? Yeah,
that sounds like a great idea! If the Navy or New York State can benefit
from tearing down the building I say, go ahead.
peter koch
30 Apr 2008, 10:39
Christina, the land is not owned by the Navy. It is, in fact, owned by the
NYS Dept. of Military and Naval Affairs, as is the building. The DMNA
leases part of the property to the Navy.
I agree that many folks are unfairly stereotyping the Buffalo Yacht Club
and its membership. The Yacht Club has nothing to do with what's happening
at the CPO Club and wouldn't benefit in any way from a parking lot being
put in there. Socioeconomic differences have a strange way of creeping into
every Buffalo conversation/debate, whether they are at the root of a
problem or not.
I didn't have any room in the article to point this out, but the parking
lot rumor is unconfirmed. DMNA has said it has no direct intention of
paving over the spot. That is a widely circulated rumor that began with an
officer at the Navy Operational Support Center. He said (to Sam Hoyt, who
then started talking about a parking lot) that it was his understanding the
DMNA would level the building a pave over the location, allowing the Navy
to use it.
Regarding another restaurateur taking over the building, I believe it is
possible. I think the DMNA figure of $1.5 million to $2 million is
ridiculously high. Think about it. You could build a new CPO Club, bigger
and more extravagant, for that much money. It's a late-1920s wood frame
building, basically like you average Buffalo house, only bigger. Fixing it
up won't cost millions.
Like I've said before, it's in the hands of NYS's property-holding agency,
the Office of General Services. DMNA has no use for the building or the
land, so the land would transfer to the OGS. In that case, the state has
the power to transfer both the building and the land to a private owner.
There would probably have to be some agreement to keep that four foot strip
of waterfront land leased to the Navy, but aside from that, I don't see why
something couldn't be worked out.
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