Buffalo readying hostel’s former home for sale

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Hostel Buffalo-Niagara in downtown Buffalo’s Theater District. Photo by Garrett Looker.

Members of  the Hostel Buffalo-Niagara board are working to reclaim the lodge’s former home at 667 Main St. – though they may have some competition.

The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency last week said its real estate team has been showing the property – located in the heart of the Theatre District – to several potential buyers. 

BURA officials didn’t name any interested parties beyond the hostel, which is partnering with developer Sam Savarino to create a construction plan for the property.

The hostel’s board hopes that Savarino can acquire the building and create a pathway for the hostel to purchase it in the future. But for now, their main priority is seeing that the building is structurally sound so that the hostel can reopen, no matter who owns the property, said Katherine Pessecow, the Hostel Buffalo-Niagara board president.

“We’ve been working internally to make sure that we have a business structure so that we are able to work with whoever purchases the building,” Pessecow said.

While BURA has been talking with potential buyers, the building is not yet on the market, and won’t be until further repairs aimed at shoring up the run-down building are complete, BURA officials said.

To that end, the BURA board voted last Thursday to enter into a $1.2 million contract with Lakeside Construction to repair the roof and structural frame of the Main Street building and the attached structure at 664 Washington St.

The project will include demolition of the existing roof structure, asbestos abatement and installation of a new roofing system.

The agency last November set aside $2 million for renovations to the building.

Brandon Baxter, BURA’s special project manager, said the repairs will increase the value of the building and ensure it is structurally sound before winter.

BURA ordered the hostel to vacate on April 15 so that construction to stabilize the building could begin.  The 48-bed lodge had operated at the site since 1996, annually attracting about 6,000 travelers.

The hostel’s staff initially pushed back on the closure order with its own engineering report stating there was no imminent threat to workers and guests and that the building would be habitable during construction.

But the hostel was forced to close after city inspectors found unsafe electrical service to the hostel as well as structural hazards at an attached rear building. The fire department condemned the building and National Grid cut the hostel’s power supply as a result.

Echoing sentiments from earlier this year, the hostel’s representatives are still hopeful about working with the city.

“I do believe they want to work in good faith and get this off their payroll, and the hostel and Sam Severino are all but too excited to make it happen and we look forward to future conversations,” said Pessecow, the hostel board president.

She said the hostel is raising funds to get back in business, as there remains uncertainty not only about how much the building will sell for, but how much the hostel potentially lost due to flooding when the power was cut.

“We have to possibly replace everything that’s been damaged,” Pessecow said. 

“And the reality is, we have no idea. Are our wooden bed frames molded out? Is there water damage to the basement? Do we need new carpets?”

The hostel and BURA also have a pending conversation to discuss rent, particularly, $110,000 in rent arrears that the hostel’s administration said they didn’t know about.

“We’re very curious to discuss how the rent turns out, because as long as we can get our own financial structures in shape, as we’ve been working to do, then I see the hostel has a bright future,” Pessecow said.

“This truly is Buffalo’s hostel, and it feels like Buffalo. It’s  been a hard hit, but as I said, we’re really hopeful in working with the city,” she said.

I'Jaz Ja'ciel