7/13/2006

Still Saving Coe Place

Geoff Kelly's cover story in today's Artvoice is a must read. It's all about the Hamilton Ward House (aka 19 Coe Place) and the emerging Midtown portion of Main Street. Belmont Shelter has owned the house since January. It's still unsecured and seems to be experiencing some advance stage of "demolition by neglect". People who live on Coe Place and readers of fixbufalo have told me that during Scott Witzig's ownership of 19 Coe Place, the building was in better condition.

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On the left - Geoff Kelly, Jim Rayburg, Chris Hawley and Stevan Stipanovich discussing the future of the Ward House. And on the right, Chris and Geoff take a closer look at "demolition by negect"

Hamilton Ward House 3 weeks ago...notice debris dumped on City owned vacant lot - 17 Coe Place.

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The debris is still "dumped" on the City owned lot. And here's a pic of the front of the Ward House.
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Make sure to check out Chris Hawley's Midtown: Poised for Renaissance and Stevan Stipanovich's Main Street: North to Ferry to gain additional insight and deeper appreciation for this part of the City. See the Artspace Archive for additional information about Coe Place and this Artspace neighborhood.

Over at BRO, David Steele wrote a recent post about the Ward House which I've linked to, right here. Check out the comments section of David's post.
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Artspace ArchiveAnnals of NeglectBAVPAWhere is Perrysburg?Broken Promises...
Writing the CityWoodlawn Row HousesTour dé Neglect - 2006

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading that the Belmont Shelter had withdrawn their plans of demolition for the Hamilton Ward House and were planning on rehabilitating the building, I contacted the director of housing expressing an interest in possibly purchasing the building.

As a semi-young, single professional whose base salary is 35K a year, I expressed that I would be an ideal candidate as the future “care taker” of this possible gem of a house.

It was pointed out to me that my income far exceeds that of the average low-income individuals that their agency normally assists in purchasing their own homes. However, I countered with, I am at a salary range that would permit me the opportunity to manage a mortgage payment without the inconvenience of having to remodel or upgrade the house on my own accord; something I have already done and do not wish to repeat.

The proverbial catch-22.

Anonymous said...

MBBA, a state agency that controls 1500 properties across Buffalo, has several properties on Coe place locked in a legal limbo with no real owner...and worse is waiting for the market to go up before they sell them.

How they could be allowed to obstruct the progress of a block in the shadow of the Artspace is unbelievable.

If the Byron Brown and his brain trust won't stop state sponsored real estate speculation in the backyard of one of its own pet projects, who will?

Between MBBA and the Casino, this may be the kind of leadership we can expect from Lord Byron.

Anonymous said...

Geoff Kelly looks like a tastey morsel.