Free of Bashar Issa, the Statler offers its next savior tax incentives galore

Free of Bashar Issa, the Statler offers its next savior tax incentives galore

Waiting in Reception

On April 11, two weeks from Saturday, it will have been exactly one year since British developer Bashar Issa’s BSC Development last did any work to improve the historic Statler Towers. On March 3, the building was taken out of Issa’s hands, and Stephen Leous, a local businessman, was appointed as the receiver by State Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran.

“The background is that the owner of the Park Lane brought a lawsuit against the owners of the building, claiming that his neglect of the torn-apart lobby area was affecting his business,” said Leous’ attorney, Bruce Zeftel.

As receiver, Leous acts as the fiduciary arm of the court. He handles all the income and expenses, oversees the maintenance of the property, and maintains tenant relationships.

While the Statler Towers have not seen a responsible or capable owner in quite some time, the building remains an attractive buy, according to Leous.

“There are state and federal programs for converting buildings to make them more energy-efficient,” Leous says. “Whoever takes the building forward, I think there is a real opportunity there. The whole mechanical and electrical system in the building is very old, and so there is a lot of opportunity to improve efficiency in the building with aid from the state and feds.”

Improving the efficiency of the building is not the only way that a potential buyer could receive government assistance. The building is in an Empire Zone, making any potential owner eligible for tax incentives. Also, Issa was nearly through the process of documentation required to receive tax credits from the New York State Historic Preservation Office, meaning that a new owner would be eligible for those same tax credits should they complete that process.

Beyond a helping hand from the government, many other factors make this building a smart buy for investors, says Leous.

“It’s a landmark building located on the most prominent circle in Buffalo. Also, There is an existing tenant level here. We have 20-plus tenants currently.”

While Issa had a vision for the building, he lacked the know-how and the resources to completely restore the structure. By most estimates the complete restoration of the Statler Towers is a $100 million project. While this figure may seem daunting, it is far from impossible.

“There have been buildings just like this one in Boston and St. Louis that have redeveloped with great success,” says Leous. “What we need is a purchaser who is serious about saving this building and has the resources to make that happen.”

Should the building ever see the type of repair that it needs, it might reap the benefits of its great location. The New Era headquarters, City Hall, the Buffalo District Office of Immigration, the Federal Court House (under construction), and the new Avant Building (under construction) all lie within a few blocks, giving any business that might reside within the Statler a great shot at success.

“In terms of architecture and history, Buffalo has really great bones,” says Leous. “This is just one of the buildings that shows that.”

—justin sondel

Reader Comments

John Q Blogger
29 Mar 2009, 15:43

"Issa had a vision"

Rigas had a vision.
Jeffery Weisig had a vision.
The Peace Bridge Authority had a vision.
The Seneca's had a vision.
Bass Pro had a vision.
The Bills had a vision.
AIG had a vision.

At whose cost?

All these pie in the sky power brokers and real estate silver bullets and get rich quick/make job quick scenarios have done nothing but reward themselves at the expense of the WNY tax payer. The corporate few have cost us quality of life and caused us a major degradation in city housing, schools, small business and better services for a wider community.

The myopic politicians and corporate dictators won't rest until they have run this community into the ground using the same play book that moved U.B. to Amherst, built a subway down our Main Street to no where, and installed parking lots and dumpsters in peoples back yards from Buffalo to Amherst.

AIG is the stuff that the Seneca Casino, Peace Bridge Authority, Bass Pro, and the Buffalo Bills are all about. The life blood and fortunes of this community are being wasted on promoting and expanding gambling addictions in WNY. The Peace Bridge Authority wishes to destroy not only a large area of the West Side but to also saddle our urban community with additional tons of carbon and particulate pollution and decrease the health of our citizens.

Bass Pro has it's hand out like the Bills always have their hand out. The people of Erie County poured millions into Rich Stadium and now the Bills are playing more of their home games in the home of Toronto. It makes no sense and costs too much to reward a few and rob the many.

If Bass Pro and the Buffalo Bills cannot expand their business and build their stadiums and stores from their corporate pockets than they should be out of business. WNY taxes should not be devoted to investing in corporate enterprises and franchises.

Who is siphoning off the opportunities in America? The corporations who are on U.S. citizen welfare program.

Lofts and pent house developments in downtown Buffalo for the gentry classes do not restore city wide community justice to this city. Our taxes should be spent on the welfare of the larger community in WNY. Waterfront property should not be devoted to the rich. Access to our greatest natural wonder should not be dominated by who has the most cash that was bestowed to them from our pay checks.

WNY corporate welfare can be compared to Las Vegas wasting water for fountains and golf areas in the desert and then turning around and wanting to siphon off the Great Lakes and it's environment.

Every time we hear a local politician talking about job creation for the short term benefit of the few, then an alarm should sound when we do not hear about the negative long term effects to our community.

Representative Higgins and Peace Bridge Authority rushing to destroy the West Side and increase health problems is deplorable. The West Side is the future airborne Hickory Woods.

Collins is a stooge of corporate America and the gambling industry.

All the politicians in our community who are quick to jump as high as corporate America wants them to jump are defrauding us. The politicians work in the short term for their next reelection.

We the community in Buffalo and the USA have suffered from corporate domination of our electoral process and informational distribution. Our freedom is being taken away for corporate servitude. The Jonas Brothers are to music as Bass Pro and a new Peace Bridge are to economic development for, by, and of the people of Buffalo.

The Buffalo News is the mouth piece for the AIG bankers. They bury stories about the wrong doing of American corporations and go after workers, unionists and the poor. A man with a brief case steals more money than a man with a gun.

Where is the Buffalo media right now?

Why is the story about gang run, collection agencies being under reported in Buffalo? How come the stories about these local, small, and shady operations that who are buying bad debt information from corporations being ignored and not reported? There are collection agencies in Buffalo that are extorting and threatening debtors in America with gang like thug tactics and subterfuge.

Wait a few seconds for the next big, corporate thing to attract us all like summer moths into an light and later hits us with a shock for a life time.

Buffalo and America we are paying the cost for the greatest follies this city and country have ever seen in it's history. Brought to you by corporate America.