2/27/2008

Last Chance - Really!

I was in Housing Court this morning hoping to meet the owner of 1325 Michigan Avenue. She was a no show. Judge Nowak issued a warrant for her arrest. I wrote about this place recently here, Last Chance?
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If anyone has cash and a plan for the last remaining cool commercial structure on Michigan Avenue - just a few blocks from Artspace - let me know. Housing Inspector Michael Schieber and I talked about before the case was called. He's agreed to allow access to anyone who is serious about rennovations at this location. I asked the Judge for 30 days.

Interested, let me know. I'll make arrangements with the City's third floor. Otherwise, 1325 is dust and another addition to the ever expanding and increasingly larger urban prairie.
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6 comments:

Courtney Imbert said...

I wish I could save it. There is clearly a lot of potential in this space.

It would be nice if the City of Buffalo was willing to give some of the money slotted for out-of-state Bass Pro to some of us locals to rejuvinate the houses! :D

Right now I'm renting, but I would love to create a modern-style loft or two on the top and a commercial space on the bottom. I'm not sure how much money I would need for this dream though...right now have a few thousand saved up toward my dream but the article in Buffalo Rising about the guys looking at $500,000 to renovate a modest two-loft space is quite daunting!

But give me a couple of years and maybe I'll have enough savings to make it work.

Anonymous said...

i love this building. i live in florida, and i don't know buffalo very well. i would like to chat further with you about buying this building. what is your e-mail address?

fixBuffalo said...

davidtorke@gmail.com

email me now if you'd like with your phone number, we can talk for awhile, if you have time.

Anonymous said...

Ever since you featured this building a couple of years ago, I have had a soft spot for it. It is really too bad that it will be lost if left in that location. I wish that the Erie Canal folks could pick this up and move it to the canal. I think it would fit down there better than it does along the urban prarie on Michigan Ave. I suspect that it is 1860s-1880s era.

Anonymous said...

The building doesn't appear on the 1872 City Atlas the corner lot owned by Susan E. Dorer was vacant. However in the
1894 City Atlas there are two buildings on the lot, 2 story brick on the corner with 1 1/2 story wood structure next to it. Apparently this building was expanded.

Anonymous said...

Just what could go here that would last? I love the effort but fixing up the building is not really the issue. The issue is the area.

It is going to cost a LOT of money to bring this building back. After that, what is next. What business could go there that would see a return on investing?

There is a reason why it is like this now.

Fix the area and the buildings will be taken care of....