Local Government Moves Forward With Trying To Seize Buffalo’s Largest Hotel

The real estate market in Buffalo and Western New York has been booming for the last few years. As homeownership values have increased, there are a few properties around the Buffalo area that have not seen the boom in the market.

One property in particular has been stuck in a legal and process jumble after an arson fire took the largest hotel in Buffalo out of use, for now, what is turning into more than 3 years. Since the winter of 2021, the Buffalo Grand Hotel has been shuttered after a fire forced the closure of the massive building. Since then, the hotel's owner has been battling with his insurance company to get paid in order to make repairs and reopen the hotel.

Just a month after an insurance settlement was reached and a path to reopen the hotel seemed in line, officials from the City of Buffalo started a legal process to seize ownership of the hotel.

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According to Buffalo Business First, the City of Buffalo is moving forward with a legal process under the state's real estate law that allows it to seize abandoned commercial and industrial real properties.

Ed Nice Jackson / Townsquare Media

One of the main questions up for debate is whether or not the Buffalo Grand Hotel has been abandoned.

City officials claim that the lack of action in repairing the property, plus nearly $100,000 in unpaid taxes and fees, makes it clear that it has been neglected and abandoned. While the building owners claim that the delay in insurance, plus the fact that the city has yet to find and charge the arsonist, is primarily to blame for why several actions have yet to happen.

Both parties will have to argue their positions in the New York State Supreme Court when the case goes before a judge. But one thing is clear: considering Buffalo is already the city's biggest slumlord landlord, why do they want to take over even more property?