Buffalo Central Terminal

DERAILED AT BUFFALO CENTRAL TERMINAL, TUCHMAN SETS SIGHTS ON FALLS HOUSING
December 4, 1994
by: LEN DELMAR - News Niagara County Bureau

Sam Tuchman left his native Buffalo 46 years ago to chase his fame and fortune on the gold coast of California.

He found both.

Tuchman began building houses in California in 1958. Some of them cost well into the seven figures. He was doing very well.

But Tuchman decided, a couple of years ago, to come back to Buffalo and ply his trade here. His existence has been a roller-coaster ride ever since.

Tuchman’s newest venture in this area is a plan to put 250 houses on land adjacent to the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls. It received planners’ preliminary approval last week.

But though he has accomplished some small victories in the home building area, he has been plagued by the one dream he has had since his arrival here.

The picturesque but long abandoned Central Terminal off Paderewski Drive could once again become a showplace for the nation, if not the world, he thought. So he purchased the building during a foreclosure action.

Or did he?

“There is a dispute about it,” Tuchman’s attorney, Greg Davis, explained. “He thought he did have title to it through the foreclosure action. But the previous owner took the suit to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court and had the sale overturned.

“Now there is a question of whether the deed was actually signed and who exactly is the equitable owner.”

While that argument is going on, Tuchman has been hauled into Buffalo City Court for a series of housing violations involving the terminal building. Those violations include deteriorating masonry inside and outside the building, dozens of broken windows and leaks throughout the structure.

City Judge Robert Russell has ordered Tuchman and the city to “resolve the matter through negotiations,” Davis said.

“It’s ludicrous that the city has him into Housing Court instead of using their resources to help his project,” Davis said.

Davis estimated that Tuchman has invested “easily one million dollars” in the terminal. Tuchman would not confirm or deny that figure.

That is not the end of the story involving the terminal.

Tuchman said he had a commitment from the federal General Services Administration that the new offices of the Internal Revenue Service would be located in the terminal building.

The contract with the IRS would have been worth $20 million, he said, which would have helped finance the renovations Tuchman had planned for the building.

Eventually the IRS moved into offices in the AppleTree Business Park. As a result, Tuchman, through his attorney, has filed suit in U.S. District Court in an effort to abrogate the lease at AppleTree and give it to Tuchman.

Tuchman said of statements he has heard from people who were involved in the IRS negotiations, “We feel we have a smoking gun here.”

Now Tuchman has embarked on a new project, which, he hopes, will provide smoother sailing.

He has purchased 72 acres of land that once held the Griffon Manor Housing Project adjacent to the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls. Tuchman is planning to build 250 homes in the area and, eventually, an apartment complex and a strip plaza.

“This is one of the greatest things that could happen in the Niagara Falls area,” Tuchman said. “Eventually it could mean $1 million in taxes.”

He has received preliminary approval from the Niagara Falls Planning Board to build the first 60 of the homes. The plans still have hurdles to clear at the Love Canal Area Revitalization Agency, the Niagara Falls city engineer and, finally, the City Council.

Tuchman expressed the belief that this project will proceed without a hitch.

“I can’t see any problems there,” he said.