BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Common Council on Wednesday approved applying for a state grant to cover part of the cost to fix the Statler.
Developer Douglas Jemal is restoring the building, and it is expected to cost about $160 million.
The city is applying for a $3.5 million grant from Empire State Development, and it would be used to help fix the sidewalks around the Statler and the basement. There is a vault in the basement that has to come out to make it a safe parking area and the sidewalk infrastructure around the block is old and needs to be repaired.
The Buffalo Common Council on Wednesday held a public hearing before voting to apply for the grant. No one from the public spoke, but several councilmembers spoke in support of the application.
"I really want folks to start getting into the vocabulary that downtown is meant for everybody, and downtowns are strong urban cores that benefit cities, and so we need people to start living in downtown Buffalo. We have an exodus of 20,000 office workers that will not be coming down to downtown Buffalo, and we really need to replace them with who will live and make downtown Buffalo their home," Fillmore District Common Council member Mitch Nowakowski.
Developer Douglas Jemal wants to create more than 200 hotel rooms, shops, office space, more than 200 apartments, and parking spaces at the Statler. It's just one of his many projects in downtown Buffalo.
While being awarded the grant isn't a done deal, common councilmembers are confident the money will be awarded to the Statler.
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