Buffalo Central Terminal » CENTRAL TERMINAL FACES DEMOLITION OFFICIAL SAYS CITY PREFERS TO SAVE LANDMARK 8/31/1994

CENTRAL TERMINAL FACES DEMOLITION OFFICIAL SAYS CITY PREFERS TO SAVE LANDMARK 8/31/1994

Last modified: May 30, 2007 @ 7:38 pm by Sara Etten

CENTRAL TERMINAL FACES DEMOLITION OFFICIAL SAYS CITY PREFERS TO SAVE LANDMARK BUT IS CONCERNED ABOUT ITS STABILITY
August 31,1994
by: PHIL FAIRBANKS - News Staff Reporter

Buffalo’s historic Central Terminal, victimized by the Great Depression, neglected by past owners and ravaged by vandals and collectors, faces a brand new threat — demolition.

City Hall is threatening to tear down the 65-year-old East Side landmark, and a judge has responded by ordering the owners arrested.

On Monday, the city informed Housing Court Judge Robert Russell that it wants to preserve the building but is moving ahead with the legal process for tearing it down.

Demolishing the building is just a threat at this point because it would cost millions of dollars to do so. The city’s action, however, is an indication that inspectors are concerned about the building’s stability.

The terminal, once the site of the city’s aspirations and more recently a symbol of its glorious past, is now vacant and unsecured and has become a favorite target of vandals and the preferred home of vagrants.

City building inspectors say the structure has been left exposed to the weather for years and has decayed to the point where it is unsafe and maybe even structurally unsound.

“We’d rather keep the landmark up,” said Frank DiJames, the city’s representative to housing court. “It’s part of Buffalo’s history, but at this point we have no idea what to do with it.”

The building, a local landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is best known for its Art Deco style and the 15-story tower that dwarfs the neighborhood around it.

Even city officials concede privately that the cost will prevent City Hall from tearing the building down this year .

The owner, Samuel Tuchman, says the cost of demolition has been estimated at $11 million.

The building also has some protection from demolition because of its status as a landmark.

The city, however, is faced with a building that has become a site for crime and trouble in the neighborhood and no firm plans for redeveloping the tower or the complex around it.

“I’m generally an optimistic person,” Judge Russell said Tuesday. “I hope it’s salvageable, but we have to do what’s best for the City of Buffalo.”

Gregory Davis, a lawyer for Tuchman, said he found the timing of the city’s action suspect. He said the city recently offered his client $1 for the property but that Tuchman is negotiating to sell it to a private investor for $1.5 million.

“I think the city has a plan for the terminal,” Davis said.

Fillmore Council Member David Franczyk said he knows of only one interested party — AirSep Corp., an Amherst manufacturer of industrial and medical oxygen generating systems.

Franczyk said the company chairman has a personal interest in the terminal and, until recently, wanted to restore the building and move his operations there. He said the deal was contingent on the company getting about $15 million in federal aid.

Barring that type of aid, Franczyk is hoping the city will take ownership of the building and secure it until a suitable use can be found.

“Those ruins could stand there for years and years,” he said. “We should exhaust every opportunity to save that building.”

City inspectors said the building has been neglected far too long and may have reached the point where it can not be saved. They said concrete floors in the upper sections of the building are crumbling and falling onto the floors below.

Without a plan to repair the landmark, the building will continue to deteriorate, forcing the city to move ahead with demolition, DiJames said.

Opened in 1929, the Central Terminal was hampered right away by the Depression. The terminal realized its potential during World War II, serving as a major railroad hub. But with the growth of automobiles and airplanes came the death of the building.

Tuchman, who claims to be the sole owner, said the demolition threat is news to him. He also said he is unaware of Russell’s warrant for his arrest.

Russell also issued a warrant for the arrest of Thomas Telesco of Telesco Leasing Corp., former owners of the terminal.

“Things are pretty much up in the air right now ,” Tuchman said of his plans for the building. “But it’s going to happen. We’ll do a project there.”

Attempts at securing the building have failed, he said, because the building is simply too big.

“It’s a building that’s impossible to control,” he said.